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(DATE KHDISIE. 

" Nay never stri ve to fling' thy wanton arms around my neck ! 
Go ! renounced for ever as a child of in±ne ! - The daughter 
cf a Princes “blood, but it ales shame on thee ! 



OH 

IT [Hi E PATDRJIJC 11 A W AT SB. 

CWwt. 



1854 



CAVENDISH; 

OE, 

THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


W. JOHNSON NEALE, Esq. 


“in cavendo tutus. * 


NEW EDITION. 


NEW YORK : 

D. APPLETON & CO., BROADWAY. 
1854. 




Supreme Council 

Aug 10,1940 


CAVENDISH; 

OR, 

THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


CHAPTER I. 

However, let the fool who is offended at it be satisfied, that all men 
of this world are fools as well as liars. Some more, some less, and I 
myself am perhaps a greater fool than the rest, though I have greater 
frankness in owning it. And, moreover, my book being but a heap of 
follies, I hope every fool will find his own character in it, unless he is 
blinded by self-love. — Scarron. 

I have always been that prominent, pertinent thing “ a 
boy of much promise/' and, if the world will but grant me 
a sufficient delay, I have serious thoughts of expanding into 
a complete genius. 

In looking back upon my more infantine hours, I find I 
was never flogged at school (on an average) more than 
twice a- week ; but, as was my consolation at that time, it 
was always for some piece of scampishness, such as strew- 
ing the master's hay into a bed to read on, running in debt 
with the pastry-cook, breaking the next neighbour’s win- 
dows, heading my schoolfellows in giving fight to “ the 
blackguards," bolstering at night the next bed-room, fo- 
raging in the mistress's pantry, or drinking the master’s 
cider ; but in all these exploits I find I only followed, at a 
remote distance, in the steps of several eminent men, such 
as Gray, Brummel, Buonaparte, Massena, and Blucher. 

I shall notice one of these exploits, as it shows some 
precocity of knowledge in hydrostatics. 

The master thought that a weak infusion of malt and 
hop was a very proper beverage for his pupils, in prefer- 
ence to which they were at liberty to drink water. The 
first I considered bitter, the last insipid ; and, as the head 
of the house possessed some- two hogsheads of cider care- 

B 


2 


CAVENDISH ; on, 

fully stored away near his stabling, I considered that this 
would be the middle course so much recommended; and 
therefore professed a great love of stabling to the groom, 
though the sensitiveness of my olfactory nerves prevents 
my having any taste that way. Having introduced a long 
straw into the cask, I proceeded to exhaust the air withiii 
the tube, and, as a natural consequence, the vacuum was 
refilled by the adjacent fluid. 

Wishing to perfect myself in this experiment, I fre- 
quently repeated it ; so that when his reverence proceeded 
to bottle his pomonal juice, one moiety of it had departed. 

“ Master Cavendish/’ said he, sternly fixing his eye on 
me at dinner, as I sat next him, “ half my cider is gone ; 
can you account for that ?” 

“ Why, yes, sir,” I replied, without hesitation : “ the 
summer has been exceedingly hot, and it may have evapo- 
rated according to the principles laid down by Dr. Black in 
his lectures on heat and mixture.” 

“ Oh! you are a studious boy — very;” and, having 
patted me on the shoulder, and complimented me on my 
progress in natural philosophy, he birched me next morning. 

“Ah, poor man ! I see he does not appreciate my talents 
properly,” was my soliloquy, after saying my prayers twice 
(the first time, I wandered into a calculation of how much 
pocket money I was fined) on Saturday night. J have never 

been flogged for my lessons : and though old does 

style me a dark lantern, my classical master will give a 
good account of me at any rate. One thing only was in- 
correct in this ; — my writing — if that be a lesson’ — brought 
me a jobation at least once a- week. I never was a calli- 
grapher : “ but then,” said Vanity, “ that has nothing to 
do with the mind, it is merely mechanical.” At any rate, 
thrashings received from masters and ushers, and retailed 
to some of my school-fellows, form the only data by which 
I can recall any thing, and the reflection on the first and 
last of these chastisements gives to my chivalric propen- 
sities the greatest pleasure. The first was for taking a chal- 
lenge from the head boy in the school to the chief of the 
blackguards (as the town’s boys, and, indeed, all who did 
not belong to “ the -young gentlemen of Oxford House,” 
were styled), defying him to single combat. The black- 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


3 


guard was nearly killed and myself scarified — this was for 
glory. My last scrape was for saluting the lips of the 
master’s niece, con amore , when presiding over the de- 
partment of the laundry — this was for love. Love and 
glory, indeed, have always been my watchwords : — though 
it is rather unfortunate that their paths should ‘‘lead but to 
the grave !” 

I had now traversed through the hexameters and penta- 
meters of Ovid, the Georgies and Bucolics of Virgil, and 
felt myself quite at home with Crispin Sallust, Julius 
Caesar, Cornelius Nepos, and Ovid. Being able at plea- 
sure to retain the head of my class, I measured my height 
against the school-room door, and wondered wnerefore my 
widowed father sent not for his heir and only child. 

I wondered for a week — reasoned for ten minutes — he 
never sent, and so I ran away. 

On arriving at my parent’s domicile in Portman-square, 
the major-domo paid for the post-chaise, and I entered, 
finding my father at dinner with three of his majesty’s 
ministers. w T hom he had invited to discuss his appointment 
as 

“ Why, bless me, boy, how tall you are grown !” said 
he, kissing my forehead. 

“ Very true, papa,” I replied, “ and hungry also. Here, 
James, lift that chair for me, will you? and place it near 
the table.” 

“ Why, yes, he has grown very much,” said the Secre- 
tary for the Home Department, who sat opposite, and who 
had often seen me before. 

“ Yes,” I returned; “ is it not a shame to keep such a 
lad as myself any longer at school ?” 

“ Why, how old are you ?”• inquired my father. 

“ Don’t you know, papa ?” 

“ Not I.” 

“ Positively not ?” 

“ No ” 

“ Why, I am not quite fifteen yet,” said I, leading him 
to believe I was more than three years in advance of my 
real age ; de facto, somewhat more than eleven ; “I would 
give you my birth-dav, only I have forgotten it.” 

“ Not so much as that, surely, Manvers?” said my fa- 


4 


CAVENDISH ; OR, 


ther, who could hardly receive so gross an assertion at 
once. It may appear strange to the reader that my father 
was not aware of my exact age : but the fact is this ; al- 
though the natal day of the first-born is duly registered 
with oxen roasted whole, et ccetera , yet, having had an 
elder brother, who died in his infancy, and my appearance 
on the stage being originally in the part of a Detrimental, 
he knew nothing about it : I therefore replied, “You may 
be sure of it,” shaking my head. 

“ Time flies quickly/’ My father sighed, then added, 
“ How is it that I am honoured with your presence to-day ? ” 

“ Why, I wished to see how you were, and so I came up 
to town.” 

“ And what did Dr. say ?” 

“ Nothing.” 

“ How was that ?” 

“ I never asked him.” 

“ You cannot mean that you have left school without 
his knowledge ?” 

I nibbled my fore-finger. 

“ Now, don’t bite your nails, man. Nothing I detest 
more than an ungentlemanly hand. I must send you back 
again.” 

“ Oh, no ! Excuse me ! I should get flogged.” 

“ Well, that is what you deserve.” 

“ But consider, my dear father, the disgrace of being 
publicly whipped before all the school : I should never get 
over it.” — I who was flogged regularly twice a-week at the 
most moderate calculation ! 

“ Umph ! umph ! I can have no wish to disgrace you : 
we will talk that over to-morrow. Now go up stairs into 
my study ; the servants shall bring you your dinner there, 
because we are talking secrets.” 

“ Secrets, are you?” said I, going up to the Secretary, 
and laying my hand on his ; “I recollect you very well.” 

“ I don’t doubt it,” said he. 

“Yes, you are the man papa used to laugh at, and call 
Scarigaree.” 

“ Leave the room,” thundered my father. 

“ Go, you little brat,” said the Secretary. 

“Yes, yes, I remember it — Scarigaree, Scarigaree!” 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


5 

ejaculated I, in the greatest glee, clapping my hands and 
capering out of the apartment. 

But T little knew what I had done ; Scarigaree was no 
philosopher ; he knew not, that since the day when Caesar 
fell, it has ever been the part of “ your very best friend” to 
stab you i’the back ; he therefore turned sulky at my father's 
being so much “ a man of the world,” and refused to ap- 
point him to the sinecure before alluded to. By this my 
very good “ dad and gossip” lost three thousand a-year ; but 
then he had a precocious son and heir. 

The next day he stormed, and I cried ; but as he did 
not send me back immediately, I amused him by imitating 
every person in the school I had left, from the master to 
the lowest usher, taking the five daughters of the former 
in the way. 

The niece I said nothing about ; but on retiring to rest, 
I kissed the pillow, supposing it to be her. 

My father beholding how strongly the organ of “ imita- 
tion” was developed in my character, pronounced me to be 
“ an arch young dog.” Encouraged by this, I proceeded 
to take to pieces the Secretary, Lord Scarigaree, when my 
dad made me tipsy with two bumpers of claret, declaring I 
was the most clever child he had met with for an age. In 
return I could not but consider him a man of great discern- 
ment ; and when, on the ensuing week, he declared his 
intention of keeping “myself, his only son, at home,” and 
having for me private tutors and instructors in the various 
polite accomplishments of the day, I asked myself why I 
had never run away before. 

My beloved progenitor, however, soon began to think in 
what year he was married, when I was born, in what 
year separated, and when his late pars illi died. Memory 
he never had any ; but on referring to his memoranda , he 
discovered that each of those events had followed at the 
distance of two years from the one which preceded, and 
that I was little more than eleven years of age. He then 
asked why I had deceived him ? I in turn inquired if I 
had not been deceived myself. 

“You know I could not recollect when I was born ex- 
actly, and therefore took it by inference. I know as much, 
and can fight as well, as any boy in the school of fifteen; 
and if I really am not of that age, why I ought to be.” 


6 


CAVENDISH ; OR, 

This reasoning was conclusive. My parent turned away, 
half muttering, 4 4 1 am better pleased — great promise, great 
promise. I knew his mother had a spice of the devil in 
her, but I never thought her son would be of such decided 
talent. Sweet temper, too, he has. — Ah, that comes from 
me ! ” 

My head tutor arrived — was a young M. A. of Oxford — 
had managed to run through a patrimony of eight thousand 
pounds in somewhat more than four years, and was now — 
very needy — accomplished and genteel — fit for an heiress, 
or — a halter. 

For three years I grew in grace, such grace as fashion 
begets from folly, and at fifteen I had already, through the 
introduction of my worthy tutor, become, in every sense 
of the word, one of the illuminati ; for, as the allowance 
from my father was profuse, the reverend gentleman fre- 
quently honoured me, by borrowing a ten or fifteen rated 
piece of paper, which he forgot to return — of course. I tf 
is impossible to pronounce at what distinctions I might net 
have arrived had it not happened, that being one night at 
an hotel, of rather dubious repute, with my clerical instruc- 
tor, and some other ten choice spirits, of more mature years 
than myself, our hilarity was broken in upon by the entree 
of my most respectable father. The crisis was for me most 
inopportune. The blood of the grape had been plentifully 
shed, and my nerves having, in some degree, forgotten 
their wonted firmness, my reverend friend was holding up 
my head, while I sang a bacchanalian ditty. Bowing to 
my tutor, my father begged, when the festivities of the 
night were over, that he would bring me home in a hack 
to Portman Square. 

44 You may rely — you may safely confide in my care of 
him, my Lord,” hiccupped the Oxonian. My father bit 
his lips and retired. 44 There,” exclaimed the tutor to his 
next neighbour, 44 that’s the father of my young friend — a 
gentleman — a d d gentlemanly fellow.” 

At noon next day my reverend and trustworthy compa- 
nion took his last cheque and adieu ; while I looked after 
him as he departed, saying, 

G<r>, beauty, go, for thou’rt an upright man, 

And get another pupil — if you can. 

This is not the exact quotation, but that is trifling. 


THIS PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


7 

“Well, sir, what do you think of yourself ?” inquired 
my father, his coolness departing with the presence of a 
stranger. 

“ Why, truly,” I replied, looking into the nearest pier- 
glass, “ that is a question my modesty almost forbids m v 
answering; but the women sav I’m a very promising little 
fellow.” 

“You’re a d d scamp, sir!” said he, beginning to 

shake a little. 

“ Ah,” I returned, nodding my head, and half speaking 
to myself, “ an angry man always says more than he thinks.” 
Then aloud, “ How can that be, my Lord ? your son a 

scamp ! the future Marquis of ! Well, now, that’s 

very odd, when Lady told me but yesterday, that, 

in both mind and person, I was the very counterpart of 
yourself.” 

But even this compliment failed to appease him. 

“ Hold your tongue, sir ! that good-for-nothing rascal 
has — has — you’re a perfect rake — a — a ” 

“ Devilish good fellow,” said I, thinking to supply him 
with the phrase he wanted. 

“ By heaven ! I’ll see whether you shall jest at my dis- 
pleasure in this way. From this hour I cut off your sup- 
plies. You shall never have another draft. My banker 
shall have orders not to give you a sous. I’ll not pay an- 
other bill or debt after the date of to-day. Your tailor 
shall furnish you with no more than a sufficiency of clothes. 
I fling up your ticket for the Opera. You shall keep no 
horses again for a twelvemonth, and then see whether the 
women will call you a promising little fellow.” 

“ Oh, to be sure they will ; for if you cut off all the sup- 
plies I can do nothing but promise : so, what with love and 
tick, I can get on very well, thank you.” 

“ Don’t thank me, don’t thank me— tick ! If you run in 
debt I pay not a fraction.” 

“ Ah, but then I’ve money of my own, you know, my 
dear father.” 

“ You are still a minor, young man ; but I’ll — I'll 

“ Now, what will you do ? pray let us have it.” 

“Why, I — I’ll keep you under.” 


8 


CAVENDISH ; OR, 

“ Like you do your temper, I suppose ; but what think 
you if I should not submit to it ?” 

“Submit, sir ? you shall submit to any thing and every 
thing I please, while you remain under my roof !” 

" Indeed, my lord ! And when 1 am not under your roof 
what course would you advise me to pursue ?” 

“ Why, go to the devil your own w T ay,” said he, his vo- 
cabulary exhausted by rage. 

“ Very paternal indeed ! ” 

“ But I see how it is. I have over-indulged and petted 
you, till you think of becoming my master ; and while I am 
busy on affairs of state, you rake about town. A stop shall 
be put to this, fear it not. You go down to Cambridge next 
v eek, with a pretty small allowance, take my word for it. 
You may find mathematics rather more dry reading than 
Rousseau's Heloise.” 

Passion is a bad thing, very bad — I also think, contagi- 
ous ; but, certes, at this juncture my coolness vanished. 
'‘Rousseau’s Heloise!” I exclaimed; "recollect, it was 
yourself who put that book into my hands at fourteen, as a 
means of becoming acquainted with ‘ men and manners.’ 
Behold! am I not an apt scholar? You alluded to my 
poor mother — I never had the joy of knowing her ; but 
was packed off to school, that I might not be in the way, 
at four years old. I have wanted all the care she might have 
taken of my morals. As to your ‘ affairs of state,’ Heaven 
knows what those may be ! Send me to Cambridge ! I like 
that, when you are obliged to me for your best speeches, 
especially the classical quotations ! Send me to Cambridge ! 
— good ! — the House may want your Greek. But for your 
over-fondness I might have been in the Guards. No, for- 
sooth, you must make me a politician, and stick me up in 
the House ; but you will ask my consent before you do 
that. 1 wish you good morning. The air is cold ; a ride 
in the park will aid greatly in the recovery of both our tem- 
pers.” 

I left the room, with the intention of proceeding up 
stairs to dress ; but seeing my hat on the table in the hall, 
and being of an absent turn, I put it on my head, and 
walked towards the street-door. Here I heard my father 
calling, which of course, like a modern dutiful son, only 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


9 

hastened my departure, and in ten minutes I stood before a 
set of hackney coaches. A jarvey, taking it for granted 
that I was in want of his services, brought his vehicle to 
the pavement. I naturally entered. 

“ Where do you wish to be going, sir?” inquired the 
man. 

“Going — going?” I repeated, trying to arrange my 
ideas, “ to run away from myself, to be sure.” The fellow 
stared. “ Let me see, what do I want ?” 

“ Bad luck to me, sir, but I think it's your senses !” 

“ Oh, very good ! — then drive me to Burlington Arcade,” 
said I, recollecting an engagement. 

“How unpleasant this constant recurrence of sparring and 
jarring is!” thought I ; “so ludicrous, too, for my father to 
imagine his temper is good ; it is certainly a great drawback 
on life, embittering half its pleasures.” 

Is there any pleasure unmixed with pain ? But where — 
in short, existence is a 

“ Five- shilling fare, if you please, sir,” said the driver, 
opening the door, and dispelling my meditations. 

“ Nay, we may esteem it well if some of us come off for 
that,” I half muttered to myself, giving the man his money. 

“ Somethink to drink, your honour ?” 

“ Drink my honour ! no, you scoundrel, you shan’t drink 
my honour, though you have drowned your own, you have 
imposed on me sufficiently already.” 

“ Composed upon ye, you varmint ! and what d’ye mane 
by that ? Wasn’t it yourself said you were well off for five 
shillings ?” 

“Tut, tut, man, that was life I was philosophising on. 

Od-rot your fillossofizing ! that doesn’t open your 
purse at all, though it makes you wear red shoes.” 

I looked towards my feet at this remark, and beheld 
them encased in a pair of red morocco slippers. This was 
awful in the extreme ; going back was out of the question ; 
so, putting some additional silver into the man’s hands, he 
drove to my father’s boot -maker, where having placed my 
feet in just as much dog-skin as public customs require, 
I repaired to the appointed spot in the Arcade, namely, 
the pastrycook’s, and found I was half an hour in advance; 
to kill which thirty minutes was now my tedious task. 


iO 


CAVENDISH : OR* 


CHAPTER II. 

’Tis odd that fate should turn upon a feather, 

And so it turns (at least in my opinion) ; 

’Tis odd our health should suffer from the weather, 

And little birds should mount upon a pinion, 

And we not soar, but tread upon calves’ leather, 

While bows the world beneath our wide dominion; 

All this is odd, but less so than the -fact, 

We seldom know the part we soonest act. 

* 

Had I turned to the left instead of to the right, on leaving 
the pastrycook’s shop, my destiny through life would, in all 
probability have been entirely changed ; but as I did turn 
to the right, if reader you will follow me, you will see whi- 
ther I was led — imprimis , into Piccadilly, where the first 
object which met my sight was a stage coach on the point 
of departing, inscribed in large gold letters, “ Portsmouth.” 

“ What sort of a place may that be, I wonder ?” . 

** What a very pretty woman that is ! ” I heard some 
passer-by exclaim ; and so she was. Habited in a travel- 
ling dress, and followed by a stout, fat man, she paused, op- 
posite to the coach ; the door was opened, and he handed 
her in. No one else was inside, and after arranging some 
luggage, the bulky man was pushed in also, the coach 
cracked, and down he sat. 

“ Have I any thing to do at Portsmouth ?” was my self- 
inquiry. “ Nothing,” was the answer. “ But you may 
soon make something to do there. What have I to do in 
town?” “ Nothing.” “ Good ; then it is as well to do 
nothing in Portsmouth as it is to do nothing in town.” 
“ Granted.” “ Whereas, by going to Portsmouth, I shall 
be able to talk on the road to this pretty face ; and, by 
leaving town, I shall not meet my father’s angry one at 
dinner ; ergo , all the gain is on the side of my departure 
and, stepping in, I sat down as coolly as if my place had 
been taken for a fortnight. Seeing this, the man of obe- 
sity crossed over to the side of the lady, with his back to 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


1 I 


the horses, leaving the opposite seat wholly to me. The 
coach drove off ; and, having pulled out my purse to ascer- 
tain if I could pay for the fare, and finding some eight 
pounds, I felt satisfied on that score, and turned to the 
lady of my journey. Just at this instant I bethought me 
of my appointment ; very true — that is an old friend, this 
is a new one — carpe diem. 

The lady, on a more minute inspection, had even more 
beauty than I imagined, and imagination goes a very long 
way. After gazing at her very tenderly for some minutes, 
and having only succeeded in catching her eve thrice, I 
continued to feast my glance upon the crimson colour that 
went and came, like roseate waves beneath a setting sun. 
But man is never satisfied ; indeed the last feeling I ever 
expect to know, is content. What it was I wanted, I am 
sure I know not, unless it were to bask in the starlight of 
her large blue eye — alas ! a colour too redoJently beaming 
with “ the purple light of love.” 

With this intention, I proceeded very gently to press 
upon her foot. She took no notice of it whatever. I 
pressed a little harder ; it elicited no reply, not even a look. 
1 thought such apathy in one so young, rather singular, 
and therefore pressed’upon both feet. I know not whether 
in the fervour of my admiration, I had leant too heavily on 
the feet beneath mine, but suddenly one was removed, and 
dashed against my shins with tremendous fury. 

“ What the devil do you want ?” roared out the fat man, 
who had been napping in the corner ; “ you’ve been tread- 
ing on mv corns for the last half hour.” 

“ I beg pardon, sir, I had no idea of that ; but I was 
dreaming at the instant that my fortunes had transformed 
me into a scissor-grinder, and that, labouring at my voca- 
tion, I was industriously turning the wheel, while it seems I 
was trespassing on your lower members.” 

“ Oh ! the next time you dream, I hope it’ll be some- 
thing less in my way. Emily, my dear,” addressing the 
female, who appeared rather frightened, for she guessed 
the truth, “ go over to the other side, I want to go to 
sleep.” 

“ By far the best thing, sir, during a long journey,” said 

i. 


12 


CAVENDISH ; OR, 

" Umph ! I s’pose if I lift my legs up here, they won't 
be trod upon ;” when, screwing himself together, w T ith his 
knees in his mouth, the fat gentleman snored aloud. 

After a very interesting tdte-a-t&e, I also feigned a state 
of somnolency, and approximating my head by slow de- 
grees, allowed the motion of the carriage to jerk it gently 
first on her shoulder, then on her knee, in which last posi- 
tion the kindness of her heart allowed it to remain, and the 
drowsiness of my feelings lulled me to sleep. 

Thus, “ lapped in Elysium/’ I need not say my visions 
were of something more soft and delightful than being me- 
tamorphosed into a “ needy knife-grinder.” 

At length the coach stopped for the last time ; and, 
though hardly able to reach the hotel through cold and 
cramp, I managed to secure a fire-place for my devotions. 
From this, in half an hour, I issued forth to inquire for my 
fair pillow ; but she had departed in a post-chaise, no one 
knew whither. 

There is a remedy for every evil. “ Waiter, let me have 
a hot supper, in your best style, and speedy,” and I en- 
tered the coffee-room, to look at the newspapers. All was 
“ confusion worse confounded.” At the further end of 
the apartment were assembled some nine or ten striplings, 
interspersed here and there with a more manly countenance, 
distinguished by the naval uniform. Before them a board 
was spread with every luxury that men or money could de- 
mand ; all feelings, save mirth, seemed banished ; toasts 
were drank, jokes were cracked, and wine-glasses de- 
molished. 

I ate my meal, certainly, with a hungry zest, but could 
not help now and then casting a glance of envy at the 
good-fellowship which prevailed. The president, w T ho ap- 
peared to be somewhere about nineteen, and was a princi- 
pal leader in the merriment of the party, having caught my 
eye once or twice, and seen that I had fully discussed the 
edibles before me, and now was about to light my havannah, 
at last took pity on me, and exclaimed with great good-na- 
ture, “ Holloa there ! bo, bring your bottle and glass here, 
and we’ll drink it all together ! ” 

“ Willingly,” I replied, doing as I was requested, with- 
out cavilling at the unceremonious invitation. 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


13 


I had hardly taken mv seat when the door opened, and 
in stalked a pompous, stupid-looking man, followed by a 
delicate young lad. He gazed round the room, advanced 
a step, then faltered, advanced another step, and stood, but 
not “ at ease.” All the party immediately remained silent, 
and fixed their attention on him. This redoubled his con- 
fusion, and after some hemming and hesitation, he made 
for my friend the president, cleared his voice, and bowed as 
profoundly as a stiff neck and bad carriage would permit. 
My friend, who w r as inspired by his devotion to Bacchus, 
looked up into the man's face most ludicrously, saying, “You 
don’t mean to pick a fellow’s pocket, do you, that you stand 
there scraping like a Frenchman ?” and as he finished this 
sentence he mechanically felt that his purse was safe, and 
secured against its threatened invasion, with a button. 

“ I really — I positively beg pardon for intruding on you, 
gentlemen,” said the stranger, not knowing how to take 
what had been said to him ; “ but as this young friend of 
mine is about to join his Majesty’s ship ******, would you 
inform me whether he ought to repair on beard in uni- 
form ?” 

“ Sit down here, my old buck, and I’ll tell you all about 
it,” said the president, giving the man a slap on the back, 
while his face relapsed into its usual expression of good- 
humour. 

Opening his eyes with astonishment, and shuddering 
with horror, the poor man scarcely knew what to do ; but, 
considering nothing else was left for him, he consented to 
take the seat offered. 

“ Waiter, ahoy, there ! bring this old stager a glass, 
will you ?” roared out the president. The stranger looked 
unutterable rage ; but no one noticed it. The glass came, 
was filled, and tasted. 

“ Let me see, as Polyphemus said when they doused his 
toplight, what was it you asked ? Go on board in uniform ? 
To be sure he must ; long-tailed coat, toasting-fork 
scraper, white kerseymere tights, and hessians ; — that’s 
full tog, my boy.” 

" Indeed !” drawled out the stranger, elevating his eye- 
brows, and not comprehending anything the other had said. 
“Will you be so good as to tell my young friend what 


CAVENDISH ; OR, 


14 

these things mean ? I am not acquainted with the details 
of the naval uniform, but possibly he may understand.” 

“Ay, ay, bo!” said the president, and looking across 
the table, towards the youngster, he sang out, “ I say, you 
sir!” but the person addressed was talking very busily, 
and did not hear him ; he therefore repeated, “ Holloa 
there, you sir ! ” Still he was unheeded ; when, momentarily 
losing his patience, he struck his elbow into the side of the 
stranger, who sat next to him, with “ I say, what the deuce 
is the young beggar s name ?” 

The expression of the stranger’s face at this finished 
piece of good-fellowship was amusing in the extreme ; 
bodily pain was evident from his compressed lips, while his 
eves opened to their fullest extent, and the corners of his 
mouth, drawn back, seemed to say with the Courtenays, 
“ What have I done — how have I fallen ?” What words 
these feelings might have given rise to, I cannot pretend 
to affirm, for at this critical moment a voice from the 
“ pitcher country” was heard saying, “ You president, ahoy, 
there ! Lord Francis, give me your — vour — your leave to 
propose a toast.” 

“ Sir, I shall be most happy to hear it,” replied Lord 
Francis, suddenly putting on the most polite and dignified 
bearing. 

The midshipman, who was going to give the toast, then 
filled his glass ; the others did the same, w T hen, with a few of 
the usual flourishes, he gave them “ the health and success of 

— the liberal candidate for , and may every 

of a boroughmonger, who values his own interest before 
that of the nation, be rolled in the dirt of his own kennels! ” 

“ Amen !” responded each of the individuals, emptying 
their glasses, the stranger and his young friend excepted ; 
the former of whom immediately set down his wine, un- 
tasted, on hearing the toast, while the latter closely fol- 
lowed his example. 

“ Ho you not drink the toast, sir ?” inquired the presi- 
dent, Lord Francis, rather angrily. 

“No, my Lord,” replied the stranger, very haughtily ; 
“ I differ from the sentiment it carries most widely.” 

“ Oh, you do ! and pray what maybe your sent ments ?” 

“ Since you ask so courteously, I suppose I am bound to 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 15 

give you even my thoughts. In mv view of the case, the 

borough you allude to is the rightful property of Lord , 

and surely — may he not do what he likes with his own ? ” 

“ Do what he likes with his own ?” retorted Lord Fran- 
cis, warming ; “ no, and be d — d to him ! I suppose you 
think it’s every man for himself and God for us all ; but 
where, may I ask, is the country to go? — To France, I 
suppose ?” 

“ Positively,” replied the stranger, knitting his brows, 
“ I am not aware — who — I may have the — honour — of — • 
addressing ; — but — I — at — any rate — shall — dissent — from 
being catechised — in — a manner so — unusual, and — by 

mere — youths like ; a thing I — certainly — will — 

never submit to.” 

Here, in order to make up for his total want of fluency, 
he was proceeding to put himself into a towering passion. 
This greatly amused Lord Francis, who, laughing, said, 
“Now don’t, don’t, don’t proceed to demolish me utterly, 
or I shall set my big brother, Jack, to thrash you.” 

“Lord Francis’s ‘big brother Jack?’” mumbled the 
stranger to himself, trying to connect the last sentence 
(which in the navy is a sort of by-phrase, frequently found 
in the mouths of boys fresh from school, and was, or is now, 
retained in ridicule,) which he had taken literally with the 
speaker’s name. Then suddenly addressing a mate who sat 
on the other side of him, he inquired, “ Lord Francis Who, 
is this i ” 

“ Lord Francis Hustle,” was the reply. 

“ Hustle !” exclaimed the stranger, in a voice quivering 
with rage, that rang through the coffee-room. “ 1 thought 
he must be a Hustle ! Frederick, follow me and spring- 
ing from his seat, he departed in haste, followed by his 
young friend ; while, as he retreated, I caught the words, 
“ Fool ! I laid myself open to be insulted.” 

The party, whom the reader may have seen to be a few 
sheets in the wind, roared out after them, “ Go it, ye 
cripples ! down with the boroughmongers ! true blue for 
ever ! ” 

“Who is he ? who is he ?” inquired every one at the 
same moment. The bell was impatiently rung ; the waiter 


16 


CAVENDISH ; OR, 

instantaneously appeared. “ Who was that gentleman that 
left the coffee-room a few minutes since ? ” 

“ Oh, bless you, gentlemen!” said the waiter with an 
air of vast importance, “ that was His Grace the Duke of 
Newark !” 

A hearty laugh here followed at the expense of his grace. 
Some wished they had hit him a ittle harder ; others, that 
they had tossed him out of the window ; more, that they 
had bundled him under the table ; and every one wished him 
at the devil ; while Hustle said to himself in a reflective 
tone, “ The Duke of Newark, eh ! that was odd ! I had no 
intention of insulting the fellow, either ; but then again I 
have only to shoot him to-morrow evening, and he will he 
perfectly satisfied. I say, my boys, let us be off to the the- 
atre — it's past neap-tide there” (half play). 

A universal assent was given; and with no more injury 
than what resulted from running against every post that was 
and many that were not, in our way, we arrived at the 
temple of Melpomene. 


CHAPTER III. 

Row, dow, dow! 

Who’s for a row ? 

Take me whilst I’m in the humour; 

That’s just now. Sea Song. 

On entering the theatre we found it unusually full, and, for 
Portsmouth, overflowing; but drunken midshipmen get 
seats, if only as bribes to be quiet, and down we sat ; my- 
self, and several besides, in the centre box, the others in 
“ parts adjacent thereunto.” 

Mr. Mathews, in one of his “ Evenings at Home,” wal, 
as was inevitable wherever he played, the attraction of tne 
night. He had lately returned from America, and was very 
wittily caricaturing our brethren over the water. Amongst 
the other foibles thus sported with, were those of an Ame- 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 17 

rican naval officer, in whose conversation was the following 
characteristic sentence. 

“Ah, I guess as how yon allude to that affair at ‘the 
Rock/ where our officers gave your officers such a pretty 
considerable jobation/ 

“ Hold hard there, you Yankee rascal ! mind your stops/’ 
roared forth an inebriated oldster, who had been present at 
the affair alluded to, and had, moreover, been wounded on 
the lakes, for which, and many other reasons, he indulged 
in all that prejudice which is, alas ! too common in our navy, 
thanks to Captain Hall. The Americans have freedom and 
genius ; what more does the captain want in a \ oung state ? 
A little polish* he can spare them. 

“ Order ! silence ! order ! ” resounded from every part of 
the building. 

“ Confound your order ! haven’t I served mvsc If ? was I 
not present ? — order me ! — why ?” 

“ Never mind, old fellow, it’s all my eye,” said some of 
his messmates, pulling him down by the skirts of the coat, as 
is the wont with an over-crammed member of parliament. 

“All my eye ! ” guggled the oldster, “ not able to com- 
prehend what was said to him. “ Oh then his eye, I 

say.” 

“ Any thing you like old fellow, only pray sit down, and 
be quiet.” 

“ So I will ; but the cloth, you know — — ” 

The inimitable Mathews continued : “Yes, yes, I recol- 
lect it, I belonged to the Macedonian at that time ; our Ma- 
cedonian, you know, that was your Macedonian.” 

“ You bermugian-biiilt braggadocio, take that,” cried the 
exasperated mate, seizing an orange from the hand of a gen- 
tleman who sat before him (a sharp little personage, the chap- 
lain of the ), and flinging it with such a sober aim at the 

victim of his passion, that it just contrived to hit the violon- 
cello player in his orb of vision. 

“ That’s * all my eye’ for you now,” said he, chuckling to 
himself. 

“ Turn him out ; turn the reefer out !” was the cry. 

“ Where’s the fellow that has it my eye hont /'’squealed the 

* Query, blarney? 
c 


CAVENDISH ; OR, 


18 

infuriated fiddler, striding over the backs of several people, 
bow in hand. 

“ What do you mean, sir, by taking such a liberty ?” in- 
quired the pompous chaplain, who missed his orange. 

“ I’ll let you know,” said the oldster, seizing him by w T hat 
appeared to be the hair of his head, but which was in reality 
nothing more or less than the reverend gentleman’s wig. 

“ Hurra ! ” shrieked out the midshipman, as he pulled it 
off ; “ it’s like you black-coated psalm-singing fellows, to sail 
under false colours ; now scud under bare poles ! A rat there ! 
a rat!” and he jerked towards the stage, in chase of the 
orange, the unfortunate peruke, which, with still worse luck, 
alighted on a gaslight, so that hi two minutes the disagree- 
able odour resulting from burnt animal matter, a few cinders, 
and the skeleton of the silk net- work, composed the total re- 
mains of his “ hyacinthine curls divine,” thus indicating that 
they had undergone a decided chemical change. 

On feeling this outrage, the clergyman, who was at all 
times sufficiently irascible, ventured, in his rage, to lift his 
hand against the aggressor ; but, alas ! like many of his kin, 
though deeply versed in classic lore, he had not digested the 
wise Grecian maxim, “ know thyself ;” for, without making 
any more ado, the midshipman seized him with one hand 
round the throat, and with the other grasping his inexpres- 
siples, tossed him, bare-pate foremost, into the pit. 

By this time we were assailed on all sides ; the violoncello 
player was leading the boarders into the boxes, the dock- 
yard mates were sliding down from the gallery, and both gen- 
tlemen and blackguards were forcing a passage into our quar- 
ters. Sticks and heads were breaking ; women, apples, 
oranges, and nutshells flying ! while, as the numbers against 
us seemed each moment to augment, I suggested to one of 
the most sober that we had better retreat. Accordingly, 
having made a desperate sally in order to startle those less 
accustomed to rowing than ourselves, we took advantage of 
their panic, and gained the street ; but not an inch more 
ground was to be obtained without hard fighting, which went 
on in every direction. We were soon joined by a second 
party of blues, who seemed to have sprung from the shades 
to assist their brethren, and victory for a moment leant to- 
wards our side, when a fresh body of police came up, headed 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


19 


on one side by the wigless parson, who was eloquently and 
vehemently declaiming against officers who could thus ex- 
pose the crown, to which they owed so much respect ; and 
on the other, by the eyeless but ireful fiddler, who was aspi- 
rating the a and the silent h, and exchanging the vs for the 
w’s in the vtdgate. 

“ For my part, I prefer to fight another day/’ said 1, see- 
ing one midshipman after another taken into custody ; re- 
sorting to my heels and the dark lanes, I overtook a remnant 
of our party. Hustle at their head, driving before them a dock- 
yard matee, whom they had taken prisoner. Between this 
class of people and the mids of His Majesty’s navy there has 
existed a deadly feud from time immemorial. 

The prisoner was blindfolded, and had his hands tied be- 
hind him. It was a calm, clear, moonlight. After walking 
for a quarter of an hour, we halted. 

“ Prisoner,” said Hustle, mocking the grave official tone 
of a president of court-martial, “ you have this night had the 
immortal honour of fighting against His Majesty’s officers. 
Fortune has decreed for your party ; but, to all 'human eyes, 
has decided against yourself ; be ihen undeceived. It is not 
to him who survives the victory that the laurel wreath is 
more especially given ; no, it is to the hero by whose death 
that victory is achieved ; such, then, is your case.” 

“ Oh, for Heaven’s sake, gentlemen ! — my wife and fa- 
mily ” 

“ Silence ! such thougnts as these are only for plebeian 
mortals, and not for one whom fate designs to immolate at 
the shrine of honour. Prisoner, you are standing on Ports- 
mouth ramparts and the brink of eternity. The fosse is be- 
fore you, the scented lime-tree behind — the silver moon 
above. We would grant you a parting glance at this fair 
scene, but your imagination will paint it even fairer than 
reality. Prisoner, the descent of the fosse is twenty feet, and 
the moon is lighting up the bed of stones that will shortly 
form your grave.” 

“ Now, for mercy s sake, gentlemen — my aged mother and 
three orphan nephews ” 

“ Silence ! — a grateful government provides for them. 
To one who has performed such feats of military valour, a 


20 


CAVENDISH ; OR. 


less ancient, a less military death and burial, could not with 
justice have been given ; — 

Life is a shadow that departeth ; a dream of error, 

The fruitless labour of imagined existence. 

At each of the five last words the wretched man, who had 
been taken up by the hands and feet, received a swing, first 
from one side, then from another, and as the fifth was pro- 
nounced, the body descended. A convulsive expansion of 
the arms, that burst their bonds — a vain, vain effort to 
spring back, was seen, and a hideous yell broke forth as the 
man fell with — what, gentle reader ? — why, a loud splash 
into the sea — not from the bastions, a height of twenty feet, 
but from the quay, a descent of four. 

As the depth of water was barely five feet, it was amu- 
sing to see the effects of surprise on our victim. The nights 
had long since set in to be frosty, consequently the cold took 
away his breath ; and, being blindfolded, he was running out 
to sea in search of the shore, while pure fright seemed to de- 
prive him of the recollection that his hands were at liberty, 
until a loud laugh from the shore, and the cry of “ pull the 
bandage from your eyes/’ brought him to his senses. 

“ God bless you, gentlemen, for your kindness ! I was be- 
ginning to think I was killed in reality, sure.” 

My “ gentlemen ,” having had their “lark,” were content 
to help the plebeian out of the water, who made the best of 
his way home, and our party dispersed ; Hustle and myself 
to take up our quarters at the George ; the others, some at 
the Blue Posteses, and some at the Blue Pz7/-ars.* 


CHAPTER IV. 

The reward 

Is in the race we run, not in the prize ; 

And they, the few, who have it ere they earn it, 

Know not, nor ever can, the generous pride 
That glows in him, who on himself relies, 

Entering the lists of life. Rogers’ Italy. 

Rogers ! amidst all the beauties which thy works contain, I 
scarcely think there is a greater or more valuable truth than 

* Both houses of resort for naval cavaliers. 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


21 


the one contained in the lines above quoted. But to our 
tale. On meeting Hustle next morning at breakfast, his 
first inquiries were as to what had passed between him and 
his Grace of Newark. I then repeated, as near as I could, 
what had taken place ; and he, wishing to do the thing as 
handsomely as might be, desired I would take his compli- 
ments to the duke, and say, that he had not intended to 
offer a personal insult ; but any satisfaction that a gentle- 
man might grant to, or expect from, another, he should be 
most happy to afford. 

His grace, however, did not wish to be shot a-head* 
even for an odd borough, and therefore replied that he had 
ascertained Lord Francis could not have been in possession 
of his name ; besides, it was a conversation which occurred 
after dinner , and those he always made a point of forgetting 
before breakfast. A very convenient rule, I thought, for 
men who give promises ; and, having made a courteous 
exchange of bows, my first negotiation as second ended. 

I need not tell the reader that Hustle and myself were 
soon great friends. Generous, clever, and reckless, he was 
a most amusing companion, and it was not till the third day 
after my arrival, when I found my money running short, 
and my bill growing long, that I bestowed a thought on 
him who claimed the honour of calling me his son. I 
should, perhaps, have before this explained to the reader 
that the party over which Hustle was presiding on the 
evening of my arrival at “ The George,” was composed of 
some of the junior officers belonging to the Undoubted 
frigate, formerly commanded by the brave and heroic 
Captain U — h — r, who was honoured with a snuff-box from 
the Emperor Napoleon Buonaparte, and who had sufficient 
veneration and kindred feeling for that immortal name, not 
to surrender it up to the base demand of a baser ministry. 

To proceed : the Undoubted having that day been paid 
off, these officers had met over a parting dinner, and Hustle 
was only now remaining a week in Portsmouth, previous to 
6tarting for town. On the third morning, whilst at break- 
fast, I happened to take up the newspaper, and read the 
following paragraph : — “ We understand the Niobe (that 


* See the police reports during the last election. 


22 CAVENDISH ; OR, 

fine forty-six gun frigate) is to be immediately commis- 
sioned by the Hon. Robert Cassilis Sawyer. This distin- 
guished officer lately commanded the Ochlin Glamourg, 
and it is supposed great interest will be made to sail with 
him.” 

“ Hustle, do you know this don ?” said I, repeating the 
passage. 

“ Know him ! — yes, to be sure I do. My brother sailed" 
with him in the Ochlin Glamourg, and is about to join the 
Niobe. Our families are very well acquainted. A very 
good ship I have no doubt she’ll be, for a fellow that minds 
what he’s about, and gets out of the way in a storm. Were 
not you saying something yesterday about entering the 
service ? If so, I hardly imagine you could get a ship more 
the thing than the Niobe.” 

“ The very way my thoughts were tending,” I replied. 

“ I shall consider it ; meanwhile, if you have finished 
your breakfast, let us ride.” 

We rode, and talked the matter over. I bestowed some 
serious reflections on the subject, and after arriving at the 
determination that it was as well to.be a second Nelson as 
a second anybody else, and that I might get rid of my 
“ longing after fame,” as easily at sea as on dry land, which 
would moreover allay my thirst of enterprise, &c. &c., I sat 
down and wrote the following epistle to my worthy pro- 
genitor : 

“ Mr Dear Father, Sundaij, Nov. 28. 

“ I fear lest the hurry in which I left town (purely acci- 
dental) may have dispossessed you of a few extra winks of 
repose ; but the fact is, I was doubly absent, et in mente et 
in corpore ; and, happening to meet an unusually attractive 
female countenance in Piccadilly, those extremely sensitive 
feelings for the fair sex which I inherit from yourself, left 
me no choice but to follow her with less freedom of will 
than the needle does the magnet. 

“ Without the slightest commiseration for my helpless 
predicament, she entered a coach starting for Portsmouth, 
and I was whirled away to this unnoted corner of the 
globe ; while she, like Dalilah of holy writ, lulled me to 
sleep on her knee. Glimpses of heaven, however, are soon 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 23 

gone. I lost sight of her while burning my boots at the 
George. 

“ I have been contriving to kill time somewhat pleasantly 
— for a variety — with young Francis Hustle ; you know 
Hustle ? (no, I believe not, bye-the-bye,) — the Bitford 
family. As a proof in what a state of somnambulism I left 
Portman Square, I actually walked out in a pair of red 
slippers ! That is trifling — but this is not, namely, with 
only eight sovereigns in my scrip. You will see, therefore, 
that I have been obliged to allow the hotel-keeper to put 
his pen to paper on my account — a bad thing, I grant, but 
a man may do worse : the whole of which tends to show 
that your answer had better enclose a draft at sight — say 
fifty. 

“Talking of drafts and bills, et horrida cetera , a slight 
recollection comes over me that something unpleasant 
passed between us at our last interview. Now, my dear 
father, you must be aware that two people never live in one 
house without quarrelling, — if they happen to be related. 
Apropos, Seymour said to me the other day, ‘ L — and Cl- 
are always squabbling in the most unnatural manner, I scarce- 
ly know what to liken them to.’ ‘Tut, man,’ I returned, 

‘ liken them too ? w T hy, they’re like two brothers, to be 
sure.’ This suggests to me the propriety of finishing my 
education with a ramble. I have therefore resolved to don 
a naval uniform, and set forth in search of love and glory. — 
I see at once this meets with your approbation, as there 
always was a chivalric feeling in our family. You will 
therefore be pleased, as soon as may be, to find out some- 
body that knows the Honourable Captain R. C. Sawyer. 
He is going to commission the Niobe, the ship 1 have fixed 
on ; and, faith ! every day will not afford me a chance of 
running my career in such immortal company. I feel half 
enamoured of her already ; but be sure and tell your friend 
to let the honourable captain know that I am a young man 
of the highest morals, gifted understanding, and a capital 
fellow withal, otherwise I could not now have the pi asure 
of subscribing myself your most loving son, 

“ Manvers Cavendish 


£ ‘ To Lord Charles Cavendish. ” 


24 


CAVENDISH ; OR, 

P. S. Should the weather be very enervating, you need 
not trouble yourself to write any thing more than the trank ; 
but do not forget the draft : my direction is simply at 
the George, Portsmouth. I wish to be in town on Wednes- 
day, and they tell me it is no longer the thing to leave your 
debts, like your morning shadow when travelling east, — 
behind you. Adieu !” 

As soon as fate and His Majesty’s mail permitted, a letter 
was put into my hand. My first impulse was to ascertain 
that it conveyed a certain slip of water- marked paper, when 
to my astonishment, I saw the figures, £100. " He must 

be either cracked,” thought I, “ or devilish glad to get rid 
of me.” I looked again at it ; its date was that of the day 
subsequent to the one on which I left town. More mystery 
still ! — good draft, however ! no forgery — and folded it up 
very carefully in my note- case. Having seen that no kind 
friend was at hand to pick my pocket, I placed the whole in 
the latter, and read : — 

" Sir, “ Thursday , November 25. 

“ Your rebellious conduct is beyond every thing I ever 
saw — read — dreamt — heard of. I wish no human being to 
starve, or be hung for stealing hot rolls. I therefore send 
you a hundred pounds to provide for your necessities, and 
my commands that I may never more be troubled with a 
word concerning you. Make the most you can of this sum, 
as it is the last you will ever receive from 

“ Charles Cavendish. 

“ P.S. — Friday , 2 6th. Oh, you good-for-nothing dog! 

If I only knew where you were, I’d send you this directly. 

“Saturday, 27th. I have just been goingto send James 
to the Morgue, but he came back to say there was no 
Morgue. What ! no Morgue in London ? Bless my soul ! 
—make a minute of that to the Sec. State Home Dept. 

" Monday, 29th. So, sir, you have at last condescended 
to let me know where you are — to inform me of the f pure 
accident ’ which determined your leaving London — to talk 


THE patrician at sea. 


25 


to me of pretty women, and other follies ! Why, sir, I 
suppose if the arch fiend himself was to turn out a pretty 
woman, you’d be in a hurry to visit his dominions. Boy, 
you are a giddy fool, to say the least of your proceedings, 
and very inconsistent. You will see that I did intend to 
trouble myself no further about you ; but at that time I did 
not contemplate your becoming a midshipman. Heirs are 
only to be obtained, you know, by marriage — results dearly 
purchased by the process. My temperament is not con- 
nubial — that is decisive. So Lord F. Hustle has inoculated 
you with the small-pox ? — trash ! — What am I writing ? — 
I mean to say, the marine mania. I hardly know which is 
the worst of the two, and ail boys seem liable to both — 
something new in physics. I thought some time since you 
had been vaccinated. It is now plain that you are becoming 
quite a calf. But every age will wear away, though the 
last may prove more foolish than the first. Your remark, 
however, is very true ; people related do quarrel ; there i9 
little doubt on the subject — indeed, this was the only point 
on which your mother and myself ever agreed. 

“ The sooner you arrive in town the better. I can meet 
with nothing but letters and notes bearing your address on 
them, written in such vile, scratchy small hands, I can 
never make out whether they are yours or mine. The 
next that arrives I burn. Two fellows, having the external 
appearance of highwaymen, called for you yesterday ; parish 
officers I think they named themselves. I concluded you 
had found your way into Newgate. 

“ News is stale, and scandal dull. Loud complaints, I 
hear, are openly made in Doctors’ Commons against the 
rigidity of morals last season ; but a rumour having lately 
got afloat that the king has taken a new mistress, the law- 
yers talk of precedents, and anxiously expect some relaxa- 
tion. Others, again, do not hesitate to affirm that this 
report originated with themselves, in order to cause a fall. 
So wags the world — an odd assemblage at any moment ; 
but in all believe me ever your affectionate father. Fare- 
well. 

“ The draft, I see, is for a hundred. I merely send it to 
prove what I was going to do. But remember, you are 
only to squander fifty. Now I have omitted to tell you 


26 


CAVENDISH ; OR, 

that a very good channel for Captain Sawyer is open to me. 
I am told that you can do very well with some couple of 
hundreds a-year at sea. If I could only affect as great a 
saving in the state, as this will make in my private finances, 
I might form a cabinet directly. 

"C. C. 

“ Portman Square.” 


CHAPTER V. 


Roll on, thou deep and dark blue ocean, roll. 

* « 9- * * 

Mdn marks the earth with ruin ; his control 

Stops with the shore upon the watery plain. 

* * * # * 

He sinks into thy depth with bubbling groan, 

Without a grave, unkennell’d, uncoffin’d, and unknown. 

Ciiilde Harold, Canto IV 

• 7 

Reader, I am fond of an active imagination ; you will, 
therefore, suppose, that Hustle and myself have arrived in 
town, and here be pleased to shake him, Hustle, by the 
hand. He is an excellent fellow — but — his carnage is 
waiting, and he therefore most politely makes you a bow, 
and says, “ Good morning.” You will also be pleased to 
suppose that, the necessary forms having been gone through, 
I am now appointed a youngster on board his Majesty's 
ship Niobe ; and that, having a letter from the captain to 
his first-lieutenant, I am once more lying on a sofa in the 
George, writing you this account, having taken leave of my 
very respectable parent, with the agreement that before the 
ship leaves England I am to return to town, on a few 
weeks’ leave of absence. 

Having encased myself in the blue and brass of his 
Majesty’s navy, I went forth a new creature. Some boys, 
who were playing in the gutter, styled me a sorry reefer ; 
and a footman, who seemed that instant to have arrived 
from town behind his master’s carriage, exclaimed, “La! 
bless me ! whose nice livery is that ?” 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


27 

“ Man,’* I replied, “ this livery is the king’s ; when you 
become his servant, you may wear it, — till then, farewell.” 

I hired a boat, and was not further molested, until ar- 
riving alongside the Niobe’s hulk, when, in ascending the 
ship’s side, I only took one man-rope in my hand, and con- 
sequently oscillated to and fro in a most uncomfortable pen- 
dulous manner, while, as if to console me, I heard a Vul- 
canian voice above, exclaiming, “There ye hang, like a 
quarter of hung beef, as green as e’er a griffin that ever 
came from Barbary ! Whoy daunt ye lay hold o’ t’other 
man-rope ?” 

“ Pray, sir, is the first-lieutenant on board ?” I inquired, 
on being lucky enough to reach the deck, instead of the 
water, at the same time flinging overboard a new pair of 
gloves, which the ascent had spoiled. 

“ Noah, he arn’t,” gruffiy answered a little man who 
reigned supreme, with a vegetable leg, and mineral eye, and 
whose manner betrayed some pique, I suppose, at my want 
of respect. But what respect could I pay to an animal who 
appeared before me, all pomp, poverty, and pitch ? 

“ When will he return then ?” I asked. “ I have a note 
to deliver to him from Captain Sawyer.” 

The mention of that authoritative name produced a very 
investigating glance and a little more civility. 

“ He ’turns at eight bells, with the party to dinner from 
the yard.” 

“ What a lucky dog I am!” thought I. “ This is some 
grand day with them, some large dinner party — to the port- 
admiral, I suppose. I had better wait then ?” 

“ P’raps you had ! Where’s your note ?” 

I produced it, when he extended the shattered remains of 
a hand, so besmeared with tar, and other nautical condi- 
ments, that I could not forbear observing, with a smile, as 
I gave it, “ Prav take care, sir, that it does not dirty your 
hands.” 

Instantly directing his fire upon me, he growled forth, 
“ You’m better fed than taught, I thinks;” and squeezing 
the note sc. as to open it, he thrust in the stump of a fore- 
finger, and cracked the seal. 

This I could not approve of, and was about to remonstrate, 
when, handing it back to me with a grin of malicious exul- 


28 


CAVENDISH ; OR, 


tation, he exclaimed, 44 So, youngster, you're come to 
join, eh ? — hope you may be in my watch ; I'll work ye." 

“ Party coming from the yard, sir," interrupted the sen- 
tinel, taking off the little inquisitor’s attention, who bellowed 
out at the imminent risk of bursting a blood-vessel, 44 Side, 
boys ! side boys !" whereupon, scampering up before the 
cane of a sour, soldierly man, came two little imps of dark- 
ness, unshod, unwashed, with tartan caps, and glided over 
the side to do honour to the party from the yard. To one 
unable to enter his father’s house without being bowed to 
by porters, powdered footmen, and butlers, not to mention 
the major-domo of the establishment, one half of which 
never appeared in sight, fancy what a bathos was the 
present. 

Somewhat surprised at such a maritime mode of eti- 
quette, I turned my eyes very eagerly to see of whom the 
party might consist, when lo ! instead of the admiral, com- 
missioners, and a staff of post-captains, there ascended a 
dirty set of ragamuffins of all descriptions, bedaubed in the 
true naval style. 

No one, however, took any notice of me. Those whose 
dress bespoke them officers filed past me down below, just 
giving a stare in the manner a cockney would look at a 
prize ox on his road to dinner. Seeing how affairs went 
on, I advanced to a diminutive, strange-looking man, whose 
back was turned towards me, as greasy in appearance as 
the worst, while his head was bedecked with a broad- 
brimmed, South American straw hat. 

Touching him on the shoulder, I said, not in the best of 
humours at the neglect I had experienced, 44 Common 
sailor, can you tell when I am likely to see the first- 
lieutenant ?" 

* 4 Confound your soul, you common thief, you see him 
now !" replied the little man, turning round with electrica. 
velocity. 

44 Uh ! youngster," said my first acquaintance, who was 
the carpenter, 44 have you put your fut in it ?” 

44 What a set of ruffians these are !" I whispered to 
myself; then addressing the incensed first-lieutenant, 44 I 
have to beg your pardon, sir, for my inadvertent mistake — 
his note is from Captain Sawyer." 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


29 


After reading it in silence, he gave orders that I should 
be conducted down into the gun-room, where abode the 
“ young gentlemen” -of his Majesty’s ship Niobe. There 
were, however, only some three or four people in it, of 
whom I did not think very highly — master’s-mates, assis- 
tant-surgeons, and what not, who seemed each very much 
inclined to play the bully. Their quarters consisted of a 
separate division of the deck astern by boards, by them 
called bulk-heads, originally white- washed, and now dirt- 
tinted, which a clerk, who seemed a better sort of personage 
than the rest, denominated a fawn colour. Every thing 
was in embryo and neglect, while the effluvia which per- 
vaded brought on a complete fit of nausea. 

“ I cannot see the glory of Lord Nelson here ; but still 
there may be some to come,” was my self-parlance. At 
this moment a negro touched me on the elbow, and in 
broken English informed me it was my illustrious lot to 
dine in the ward- room. Obedience is the watchword on 
board a ship, and the phrase “I cannot” has been banished 
the nautical vocabulary. But much as I had been told of 
the imperious turn of naval folks, I was somewhat surprised 
to hear the first-lieutenant roar out, “ Make it noon, and 
pipe to dinner.” “ Make it noon ! why, the next thing, if 
you run short of daylight, will be to imitate Joshua, and 
command the sun to stand still ! ” 

At five o’clock I found my feet beneath the king’s ma- 
hogany in the ward-room. Having sipped and sent away 
a villanous decoction of leeks, something was put upon my 
plate, which they courteously styled beaf- steak and onions. 

I was about to inquire if in his Majesty’s victualling office 
they tanned the hides, carcases and all, when the surgeon 
had the impudence to tell me they had “ a capital cook.” 
— “ Indeed, sir !” and I commenced sawing the animal 
matter upon my plate in silence. 

The officers now took it into their heads to make me their 
butt ; till losing my temper at the utter inflexibility of their 
viands and their wit, I put down my fork in despair, and 
with a look of experimental curiosity examined the blade of 
my knife. “ What’s the matter?” demanded two or three. 

“ Beef they call it,” I replied ; " and I wish to see if it 


30 


CAVENDTSH ; OR, 


has not turned the edge.” Here an exchange was made of 
very significant glances at me and my plate. 

L “ Steward ! mind you tell Mungo, when he dresses the 
dinner to-morrow, not to put so much galley pepper on his 
meat and as the master said this, he removed the frag- 
ments of a piece of coal from between his teeth, and laid 
them on the edge of his plate, adding, as he looked at me, 
“ a man shouldn’t be dirty nice.” 

However, like other meals, our dinner passed, and I 
think had Kitchener been there, he would have recalled his 
recorded wish, something about a throat a mile long : — see 
his work on stuffing birds and beasts. Thanking Heaven 
for my deliverance, I hastily scalded my palate with some 
coffee, and departed, leaving behind me Michael Queer, the 
first-lieutenant, a rather eccentric man, but very good 
officer ; the master, to whom belongs a large meed of praise, 
the purser, surgeon, and marine officer, all passing well in 
their way ; but with the last three we shall have nothing to 
do. Wherefore, then, should I trouble' thee with reading 
their names, or myself with writing them ? Not at all. 
While of the chaplain and schoolmaster, it suffices to 
declare him a man of unassuming merit, and an ornament 
to the rank he held. As to the marine officer, it w T as sup- 
posed as a matter of course, that he slept five and twenty 
hours out of the twenty -four, and I therefore knew nothing 
about him. 

On returning to the deck I found a master’s-mate of the 
name of Coldman. I hated him, first for his physiognomy, 
which always enables me instinctively to feel what a man’s 
character is ; and next for his constant endeavours to palm 
upon my credulity sundry absurd stories, calculated to make 
me appear in the light of a fool. Men, I find, will least 
forgive offences which wound their self- pride, their politics, 
or purses. 

While I was walking the deck, I saw what I conceived to 
be a flash of lightning, followed by a loud report, proving 
it to be the discharge of a piece of ordnance. “ Quick, 
quick,” shouted Coldman ; run down and tell the first- 
lieutenant that the admiral has tumbled down the hatchway 
and broken his neck.” 

“ I will, I will,” was my reply ; and, under the idea that 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


31 


it was a case of very great emergency, I bundled into the 
ward-room, exclaiming, “ Oh, Air. Queer, the admiral's 
tumbled down his neck and broken the hatchway.” 

“ Poor old fellow !” growled the master ; “ then tell him 
to put his horns in soak, for the devil’s coming to saw them 
off to-morrow morning.” 

“Why, youngster,” said Michael Queer, “ they’ll cram 
you till you burst. The rule with us is, believe nothing 
you hear, and but half you see.” With this sage advice, 
the first luff motioned me to the door, while my precocious 
ideas did anything but relish the courteous lesson ; and for 
two straws I would have turned round and openly rebelled 
against him ! But then again, I considered the straws 
would be of little service when obtained, and so I pursued 
the “ noiseless tenor of my way” towards the quarter-deck, 
where, having soon contrived to quarrel violently with 
Coldman, in which he was, of course, solely in the wrong, 

I sought my way once more to the gun-room, wishing the 
navy with the devil, and the devil at Jamaica — that being 
the most local idea which I have of his Majesty’s dominions. 

On the main- deck I found the clerk. “ What sort of 
bed-rooms have you on board ?” I inquired. 

“ Oh, famous large bed-rooms.” 

“ Indeed !” 

“ O yes, with a dressing-room and baths attached.” 

“ Mr. Scribble !” roared out the first-lieutenant. 

“Sir,” answered the clerk, and away he went before I 
could obtain any information where my apartments were 
to be found. 

Descending on the lower deck, I stumbled against the 
second- master. “ Would you have the goodness,” said I, 
“ to conduct me to my bed-room ?” 

“ Oh, bed- room is it you want ?” he replied. “ I suppose 
you would like to see your dressing-closet also ?” 

“ If you please.” 

“ I wish you may get it !” Here, pointing to a moiety 
by a longitudinal section of a canvass bag, which he called 
a hammock, “ this is your bed, and this,” meaning the 
lower deck, “ is your dressing-closet.” 

“ Yes,” said the clerk, joining, “ and if you want a 


32 


CAVENDISH ; OR, 

cold bath to-morrow morning, all you have to do is to jump 
overboard.” 

Never in the whole course of my existence had I met 
with such a set of uncivilised boors ; but help myself I 
could not. Having had occasion to get something out of 
my chest before going to bed, I entered the gun-room for 
this purpose. The oldsters were all gathered round a table, 
drinking rum and water, by the miserable light of two 
purser’s dips. At the lower end was seated a little boy, 
apparently twelve years old, nibbling in the shade, by 
stealth, a little biscuit. But the eye of the old mate who 
presided, though now glimmering with the cunning twinkle 
of intoxication, was too deeply versed in such matters to 
let his diminutive form escape. " Holloa, there, young- 
ster ! what, one bell after eight, and not gone to bed yet ?” 

“ I’m going, I’m going,” said the little fellow, nibbling 
as fast as he could. 

“ Come, then, bundle up your traps and be off.” 

Five minutes more passed and the boy had not gone. 

“ What !” said the mate, “ are you going to stay there 
all night ? Start off, or look sharp for a colting.” 

The boy rose. “ I think its very hard to be obliged to 
go to bed at half-past eight ; surely I do you no harm by 
staying.” 

“ You little rascal, do you give any lip ?” and jumping 
off his seat, and faltering from inebriety, the oldster pulled 
from his pocket a piece of - rope two feet long, as thick as 
my little finger, terminating in a conjointed set of pyramidal 
knots, nearly the size of a walnut. This I afterwards 
learnt was called a colt. “ I’ll teach you, my boy, how 
you give any answer next time I speak to you,” said he, 
seizing the little fellow by the collar before he had time to 
escape, and striking him over the shoulders with consider- 
able force. The poor child yelled most pitiably, as might 
naturally be expected ; but that only seemed to increase the 
rage of his brutal oppressor. His victim was a pretty, in- 
nocent-looking little fellow, with light hair, and blue eyes. 
I was interested for him ; and advancing, in a perfect rage 
at the tyranny I had witnessed, I put my arm between him 
and the mate, asking if he were not ashamed to strike such 
an infant. 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


33 

“ Is that all, then ? I’ll hit a bigger if you like and 
he struck me a blow on the arm with the colt, that I re- 
member yet. As my boxing was always particularly good, 
and I flattered myself my spirit, not much inferior, my 
only reply was to deal him a blow between the orbits, 
which, in conjunction with the spirit he had taken, laid him 
on the floor. 

Had the queen of a bee-hive been attacked, less commo- 
tion would have taken place in her defence than this un- 
heard-of thing : 

A youngster knock an oldster down ! 

A sweep as well might seize the crown. 

Up rose they, one and all, the mate excepted, and I 
thought myself in for a drubbing ; however, I fought for 
friendless innocence, and what were numbers to me ? 
Seizing the first brass candlestick that I could lay my 
hands on, I darted the concrete essence of mutton, flame 
and all, into the eye of the assistant- surgeon, who seemed 
to lead the attack. “ Whew, dom the mon ! my ee’s na an 
extinguisher,” said he, while 

Doused his glim in sable night, 

He turned — and, foaming, fled the fight. 

This desertion staggered my assailants, while my resent- 
ment vanished at such a touch of the ludicrous, I burst into 
a loud laugh, not forgetting to brandish my candlestick as 
fiercely as Scott's Sir Kenneth did his battle-axe, when 
encountering Saladin. 

“ Oh, you scoundrel !” said the old mate, shaking his fist 
at me from the ground, and inciting the others to dare my 
brass. Whether they would have rallied I know not, for 
the door opened, and in stalked Michael Queer, with the 
master-at-arms. They had been going the rounds, and now 
came to inquire, “ what’s the row ? ” 

“Gentlemen, what’s the meaning of all this noise?” 
He looked at me, I looked at him, and lowered my candle- 
stick, thinking that in his presence my person would be 
safe. 

“ Well, no answer ? Master- at- arms, put the lights out.” 

“We were only skylarking, sir,” said the clerk, wishing 
to save the remaining candle. 

D 


34 


CAVENDISH ; OR, 


“ Oh, then next time I’ll thank you to keep your larks 
for the shore.” 

He turned away ; I relinquished my weapon of defence, 
and did the same. The poor little boy, the cause of the 
fray, followed close at my heels, and, in return for my es- 
pousing his quarrel, showed me the manner in which I 
might gain that enviable place on board a ship, the inside of 
my hammock ; for afloat, landsmen, let me tell you, it is no 
easy matter. 

In the course of the night my hammock was cut down, 
myself mercilessly hauled round the deck, and if at dawn 
Aurora blushed, as poets say she does, I am sure it was at 
the situation in which she found me lying, on the rude deck, 
with no superabundance of coverlids, &c. Even this was 
deemed too great a luxury, and I was forced to quit such a 
poor apology for a bed at seven o’clock, exclaiming with all 
my heart, in the words of Johnson in Don Juan, — 

Lord help the scholar whom his fortune sends here ! 

A breakfast, consisting of some cocoa, (the only good 
thing I had seen on board,) and a little biscuit and salt 
butter, being despatched, the party for the yard, (that is, 
the men who are employed rigging the ship at the dock- 
yard,) embarked, myself amongst them, and steered for his 
Majesty’s ship Niobe, now alongside one of the wharfs, the 
which ship I was of course very anxious to behold, as I was 
now (important era ! ) one of her officers ! 

It was an English morning, and the dun clouds flitted fast 
and thick before a northward and easterly breeze, w T hich 
being favourable, we soon arrived at our destination. The 
Niobe was far from being a new ship, but was a strongly- 
built vessel, with as much room as generally falls to the lot 
of a forty- six gun frigate. 

I had been on board an hour, wandering and wondering, 
when Michael ordered me into the foretop to learn some- 
thing. Having crawled to that elevation, some kind friends, 
with patches on their collars, lashed me to the rigging, 
spreading the eagle, as they called it, from which uncom- 
lortable situation I was not released until after paying a 
mulct of half a sovereign to the captain of the top. 

At half past eleven it became necessary to return on board 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 

the hulk to dinner, which meal, in nautical life, always 
affords its solace immediately after the noontide ray. 

Despite the wind having considerably increased, and the 
waves being more violent in proportion, we prepared to 
embark. Michael himself, with the greater part of the 
crew, took the large boat, leaving the smaller one to follow, 
with the second master, the marines, a few seamen, and 
myself. We pushed off from the landing-place, and our 
danger from the boat being overladen was enhanced by 
the inexperience of the oarsmen, and by the insubordination 
of the marines, who were determined to stand up ; while, 
as every one had a voice in the matter, the authority of the 
second-master was little, if at all, heeded. 

From the above combination of circumstances, I thought 
it more than probable we might at last have to reach the 
ship without our boat ; I therefore secured to myself a seat 
on the weather-bow, which in my opinion was the best start- 
ing point in the event of upsetting. After sundry doubts 
and preparations for the catastrophe, and keeping my atten- 
tion fixed on those points which could be most easily 
reached by swimming, we arrived within a few boat’s lengths 
of the ship. “ Manvers Cavendish, the fates still spare 
thee,” was the sentence on my lips, when “ Port, hard a 
port !” was hoarsely bawled by some one near me to the 
helmsman. “ Starboard ! starboard !” cried the corporal of 
marines, catching a crab. “Down with it a lee!” roared 
some one else. “ Do you mean to swamp that boat ?” de- 
manded Michael Queer, hailing from the forecastle of the 
hulk. “ So I believe, sir,” said I, looking at a monstrous 
wave that came curling towards us with its “ frosty head.” 

I was right ; for as the oar still remained entangled, the 
boat refused to answer the helm, and broaching to, the 
aforesaid wave rushed into her tiny space, and in another 
instant her keel was floating uppermost. An old Irish 
sailor was sitting next me, who had been cracking his jokes 
on all around, and the first thing I heard amid the din of 
waters, was his gruff voice chanting a snatch from the 
humorous ballad of Brian O’Linn ; thus — 

The bridge tumbled, down, and they all fell in, 

“ Strike out and be d — d !” cried Brian O’Linn 

These sailors are, without parallel, joking and swjaring 

i)2 


36 


CAVENDISH ; OR, 

in the very arms of death. For my part, I no sooner 
beheld the sea breaking into us, than I hastily kicked off* 
my shoes, blessed my stars that I was not hampered with a 
Wellington, and sprang into the troubled foam to struggle 
for existence, anxious to get beyond the reach of those 
who, when drowning, are apt to wish for company, and, 
rather than venture solely to the shades below, prefer to 
leave the world in pairs. 

To swim in an unruffled bath is one thing — in a heavy 
sea another ; and a few minutes convinced me that mv 
little day of life would soon be past ; wave after wave burst 
over me, nor slight, nor few were my potations of salt 
water. My intellects were approaching confusion, when I 
heard a voice behind, saying, “ Cheer up, cheer up, my 
hearty, it’s an ill wind as blows no luck to nobody. If I 
hadn’t been here I shouldn’t been able to help you. Clap 
your hands on my shoulder, and shut your potato-trap, and 
we’ll soon be on board.” In two minutes the captain of 
the fore-top, to whom I had given half a sovereign for mv 
release, was at my elbow, and following his advice, though 
leaning on him as gently as possible, we reached the mooring- 
cables of the hulk. 

“ Save me, save me, for mercy’s sake !” was wildly 
shrieked by a human voice evidently at hand, and proceed- 
ing from some one who had tumbled over in the foam. 
Thrice the body floated to the surface, flinging forth its 
arms at random, and in vain — the last time, so near to us, 
that my impulse to try and save it was solely prevented bv 
the seaman, who contended that such an effort would only 
end in my own destruction. It was an awful scene — the 
dark and scowling wintry sky, the unbridled violence of the 
sea, where every now and then, as one wave might chance 
to rise higher than the rest, was displayed a human being, 
battling with remorseless death, while piercing shrieks still 
came distinguishable through the blast, and the gloomy, 
sullen hulks around were crowded with spectators, unable 
to afford relief to those whose last pangs they w r ere behold- 
ing. Talk of drowning as an easy death ! Is not imagina- 
tion the chief pang in all modes of death ? Then what 
can be more horrid than the suspense of one who hangs 
upon the confines of the shadowy world, “ high on the 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 37 

broken wave ?” Should a man, who has been rescued from 
drowning, commit suicide, it will not be in the water. 

Several boats had been manned on the instant that the 
accident was observed, and they were now making the most 
of their way to the sufferers. But at this instant another 
wave broke over the body I have alluded to, and down it 
went, as I thought, for ever. But no, a counter current 
had again driven it towards the surface, when coming in 
contact with my legs, which still remained in the water, it 
instinctively, — for sense was gone, — clung to them, with a 
force that defied all attempts to get free, and thus offered 
to the court of death leg-bail. The additional weight of 
the body, and the tide setting so strongly against it, were 
more than I could resist, even though my arms were 
clasped round the chain-cable. 

My former feelings, as compared with this moment, were 
as nothing ; here, at the very instant when I was about to 
renew the charter of my life, to have it thus forcibly 
wrenched from me ! A nameless space of thought, by 
those only comprehended who have, like myself, experienced 
it — seemed to bear me down. A glance, a momentary 
glance, of all connected with me in life came over my 
mind. 

But in that instant o’er his soul 
Winters of memory seem’d to roll ; 

O’er him who loves, or hates, or fears, 

Such moment pours the grief of years ; 

That pause which ponder’d o’er his fate, 

It was eternity to thought. 

With a last effort, rousing myself from this torpor, and 
grasping the seaman, who was busy getting some ropes 
down from above, I managed to make him comprehend 
what was the matter, just as the waves were beating over 
my head, and the drowning marine was tugging at my feet, 
like a malignant demon ; when, worn out with cold, fatigue 
and horror, the world passed from me, like the vague and 
nameless changes in our sleep, leaving a state, whose onlv 
feeling was nonentity, by mortals surnamed — death. 


CAVENDISH ’ OR, 


38 


CHAPTER VI. 

All, when life is new, 

Commence with feelings warm and prospects high ; 

But time strips our illusions of their hue, 

And one by one in turn some grand mistake 

Casts off its bright skin yearly, like the snake. Byron. 

“ Cavendish ! my fine fellow, Cavendish ! come, look 
about you,” was loudly repeated by several voices, as I 
became painfully conscious of returning life and sensibility. 
As soon as my inundated ideas began to collect themselves, 
I obeyed, and beheld bending over me, with a look ex- 
pressive of philosophy, the surgeon. He held a large pair 
of fire-bellows in direct contact with my lips, and had been 
alternately giving a puff down my throat, and then expelling 
the same by squeezing my chest as near to my back as in- 
tervening substances permitted. This was real kindness. 
Next to him was the assistant, applying to my nose a huge 
bottle of hartshorn, which took away my breath : this his 
colleague, the surgeon, perceiving, introduced the tube of 
his delicate little instrument into my mouth, with such a 
blast, that my throat was instantly lined with ashes. 

In a moment, ungrateful as it may appear, the assistant- 
surgeon, bottle and all, went flying in one direction ; while 
the redoubted medical chief, into whose face the ashes had 
been returned with interest, threw down his means of arti- 
ficial inspiration, as he termed it, and in high dudgeon went 
off — thinking with me, that the more you do for a man the 
less he thanks you. 

Having rid myself of these two nightmares, I was about 
to inquire for my deliverer, when some one grasped me by 
the hand — it was himself. “ Diddled the doctors, and 
Davy Jones too ! Brave doings, sir ! But that marine — 
he held as fast as grim Death to an old nigger. I thought 
he must have pulled your leg off: fine bit of stuff, too, 
to bring such a lumping fellow as that out of the water.” 

“ What, then, is he saved ?” I inquired. 

“ No sir, not quite as ye may say, seeing as how they 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


39 

doctor chaps are gone down to torment him with their 
catamarans. Lor, sir, but it did my heart good to see the 
slap in the lug you gave ’em : for my part, I never liked 
the sight of them physic men, ever since I heard about 
their preventing some blessed outrighteous (outrageous), 
machine to rob a drunken man of his liquor.” 

“ Indeed ! well ; notwithstanding your dislike, I fear I 
must fain have recourse to them : that marine has sprained 
my leg so severely that I am unable to walk. Help me 
down below, will you ?” 

“ Why, if so be as that’s the case, your honour, there’s 
no help for it. Here, you afterguard, come and help the 
gentleman below to his hammock when, having found 
something to put me in, I was conveyed below to enjoy the^ 
first-fruits of my glorious fit, which consisted in being bed* 
ridden for a fortnight. 

The surgeons having amused themselves in giving me 
the most excruciating agony for half an hour, in setting my 
leg, let flow a considerable quantity of my vital current, and 
departed. 

As the “ chief of the medical staff” was going up the 
hatchway, he was accosted by the captain of the top, who 
had rescued me from the fishes (commonly known by the 
soubriquet of Jacky Barleycorn, though christened at the 
fount by the name of John Rye). With a pedantic wave 
of the hand, the surgeon answered him, “ quickly,” and 
ascended to the wardroom, while Rye, not very well pleased 
at the supercilious answer, walked away, saying something 
to himself that I could not understand. 

No sooner had the men left their beds the next morning 
than Rye presented himself to know how I was. My mess- 
mates (with the exception of the boy whose back I had 
saved) had never been near me ; and the contrast afforded 
no very pleasant prognostic of the men I should have to 
herd with. Again and again I thanked the seaman for 
services which he seemed to hold as no value. I managed, 
however, to get my purse from its concealment, in order to 
present him with a five-pound note, which I had observed 
in it the last time it was in my hand. After fumbling for 
a minute or two I. drew forth the purse itself ; but not a 
vestige was to be found of any money. A lock of hair 


40 CAVENDISH ; OR, 

wrapped in a billet- deux had been opened, thumbed, and 
folded up again ; but the note, “ the note. Sir Thomas,” 
had departed for ever. 

Seeing my look of astonishment. Rye inquired if I had 
left any money in it. 

“ Yes, five pounds.” 

" Oh, your honour, that was rather green of you. Why, 
sir, the sharks aboard here would steal the very teeth out 
of your head, if so be as ye didn’t shut your mouth when 
you snored : but if you mean the money for me, sir, it’s 
small trouble ye need give yourself about that ; none of 
that for Jack Rye — he never saved or took a human life for 
money. He’s no Jew to traffic with the blood that runs in 
another man’s body ; but when your honour gets well, if 
you’ve a mind to bestow a quart of rum to drink your 
honour’s health, I’m just the chap as knows how to do it ; 
and as an officer, in my humble opinion, shouldn’t be above 
being a sailor, if you’ll come up to me when I’m in the top. 
I’ll show’e how to knot a rope, point a laniard, sarve the 
stays, and raise a mouse on ’em,* ay, as well as e’er a fore- 
mast-man in the ship.” 

“ Very well. Rye,” I replied, “ only give me some oppor- 
tunity of showing how much I feel indebted to you. What 
question was that you asked the surgeon yesterday as he 
left me ?” 

“ Why, you see, sir, I wanted to know how matters went 
with your honour, seeing as how they were bleeding you 
like a pig may-be ; so I asked ’em — but I might as well ha’ 
let it alone, for who the deuce can make out their cross-bred 
lingo ?” 

I cannot say that in my illness I at all approved of male 
attendants. I have no objection to a little indisposition, 
provided I can flirt and get well together. 

Oh, woman, in our hours of ease, 

Uncertain, coy, and hard to please • 

When pain and anguish wring the brow, 

A ministering angel thou ! 

Had I during my illness been a Roman Catholic, the 

* Sarve the stays, and raise a mouse on 'em, — minutiae of the naval 
profession, at which gallant seamen are particularly apt. 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


41 

Virgin Mary certainly had benefited by my vows. The papal 
religion possesses one advantage over ours, namely — to 
worship the fair sex is no idolatry. Had our eighth Harry 
been bitten by the Pope, it might have saved some lovely necks 
and shoulders. But I was bred a Protestant, if any thing, 
and instead of vowing masses to be said or sung, I merely 
vowed to scorn the white lappel, and once more to take up 
my old quarters, and write my dad’s speeches in Portman 
Square. No one would have thought that I had, when 
swallowing down salt water, been taking large draughts of 
glory ; 1 therefore determined only to scorn the aforesaid 
white lappel, while the ship was fitting out ; a contrivance 
that would save me considerable fag, which would necessa- 
rily fall on some one else — but what was that to me ? 

Another week found me in possession of Admiralty leave 
for more than a month, much to the chagrin of my enemy, 
the old mate, whose bias leant very little towards divine for- 
giveness. “What beings of change we are!” was my excla- 
mation, as an elevation in the road brought to view, for the 
last time, the sea, at once the master and the slave of 
sailors, glowing beneath the crimson reflection of a Novem- 
ber’s setting sun. Not three weeks since, I was all impa- 
tient to enrol myself as one of its defenders. In that brief 
space of time, I myself have narrowly escaped death twice, 
— first from the fury of the -waves, and then from the dis- 
ease which the suffering occasioned ; while no less than five 
sank in the struggle into an unhallowed grave. There was 
a feeling in my heart, which, if not fear, was closely allied 
to it, seeming to urge a retreat from what was yet before 
me, while thought painfully recurred to the night of my 
inauguration, and the not much superior moments of the 
middle and morning watches, a taste of which I had already 
experienced. Here a fit of heroics succeeded — 

Whate’er my fate, 

I am no changeling — ’tis too late ! 

Psha ! shall I flinch from any thing ? — the descendant of 
such a house ! — Never. Life would be as flat as badly- 
corked champagne, without some difficulties to conquer and 
enemies to rout, making the very cayenne of existence ; to 
pass which happily, the soul must be employed. The most 
intense way of doing this is, by having something to love, 


CAVENDISH J OR, 


42 

something to hate ; then strife for me — what signifies the- 
end, if true to yourself ? Come, I see I shall be something 
yet, and when in the calm twilight of an honourable old age, 
with a K.C.B., or perhaps even K.G.C. — or should I play 
the devil himself, even K.G. to place behind my title, and 
“ Beg your pardon, sir,” said a fellow-passenger op- 
posite, stamping on my foot. I looked down — there was a 
villanous wooden stump — Oh, heavens! Fate cannot mean 
to hint that my understanding will ever be reduced to aught 
so material ? Away flew the fond hallucinations of the 
former moment ; and fearing this might accomplish what 
all my previous sufferings had left undone, I quickly turned 
my thoughts into another channel, for — with one leg ! Oh, 
adverse stars ! waltz, gallopade, mazurka, were lost to me 
for ever ! How deep a curse at times is an active imagi- 
nation ! 

“ Manvers, my dear boy/' said my father, one day, en- 
tering the room, shortly after my resuscitation at Portman 
Square, “ there’s that delightful widow, Lady Lucy Carle- 
ton ” 

“ Well, what about her ? Surely you’re not going to 
marry ?” 

" Marry ! don.’t talk to me of marriage : — marry ! what ? 
I, a young widower of fifty-three ? No, Manvers, I leave 
it to old boys and young fools to play the goose at that 
rate. Marriage ! bah ! what a sour taste that word leaves 
in my mouth ! Psha, boy ! don’t talk of it. — Gad, I posi- 
tively think you have brought on another fit of that tor- 
menting toothache, which St. John L — g cured with such 
difficulty last summer, by putting a red cabbage leaf down 
my back — a cold, comfortless remedy and he twisted 
himself like one who shivers from the ague. “ What was I 
going to tell you ? Oh, that Lady Lucy is going to Naples 
in your ship, the Niobe.” 

" Indeed ! I am glad to hear it : that will be a pleasant 
addition.” 

“ Pleasant — yes ; but I have something more to add, 
which you may not expect. Manvers, what are you dream- 
ing of ? Do you not hear me ? The old rich uncle, Lord 
Dorchester, has consented to part with his niece, who goes 
also with her mother.” 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


43 


“ Niece ! did you say niece ? Are you sure of that ? ” 
said I, starting as eagerly now as I had before been listless. 

“Yes, I am quite sure of it. But your cheeks, young 
man, look very red. What may mean this fit of ecstatics ? 
Will you never learn to be a man of the world ? I wish 
you would recollect Horace’s nil admirari.” 

“ Hang Horace, sir ! he never knew the joys of loving. 
But I hear luncheon waits in the next room, and as I 
want to get out, l shall go and pledge a glass to the reco- 
very of Lady Lucy’s health, for that is the phantom she is 
going to hunt, is it not ? Who shall doubt of spirits when 
every mortal follows a shadow of his own ? ” 

“ Very true, and I am afraid hers will be a fruitless chase, 
for her husband was so unfashionable/ uxorious, and she, poor 
woman, so foolishly fond of him, that grief — yes, pure, 
unsophisticated grief (an exceedingly rare thing, by-the-bye), 
has brought on a decline. Very melancholy to see women 
fall into such, an error as to prefer the memory of a dead 
man to the presence of a living one. I am afraid she does 
not call to mind Burns’ idea on the subject, — 

A man’s a man for a’ that. 

An unfrequent case I grant. Now, I wonder — ” here his 
forefinger went up to his forehead, an invariable sign of 
prolixity beyond his usual style, which was too long in its 
most laconic form to be very agreeable, and I therefore pro- 
ceeded to despatch the wing of a fowl, and set out to call 
on the future companions of my voyage. 

How much does the fancy in certain situations think it 
has to say ! how T mute is the voice when the moment for 
utterance arrives ! Words and thoughts, which in the 
quickness of their succession before confused you, are now 
— -gone. This is the case whenever the emotions are highly 
excited, but especially where the heart is interested. A few 
broken monosyllables, inelegantly uttered, a hurried glance 
of the eye, a hectic playing on the features, constitute a 
greater part of our intercourse in the earlier stages of that 
heyday of happiness — that nectar of life, — 

First love — that all 

Which Eve hath left her daughters since her fall ; 
and yet slight, and it may be foolish, as that intercourse 


44 


CAVENDISH ; OR, 


often is, how thrilling, how marked, remembered, is its 
every word ! 

Lovers, we are told, will always paint their mistresses fairer 
than reality, something after the manner of the Irishman, 
who being shown a portrait, and wishing to pay the fair 
original a high compliment, exclaimed, “ By J — , but the 
picture’s more like than yourself, Ma’am ! ” This, however, 
I deny. In the absence of the beloved object, the imagina- 
tion more than fills up what is wanting ; but what words can 
image out even so much as exists, much less what is 
fancied ? Never ; there is a nameless expression about a 
beautiful face, a something spirituel , which is no more 
within the power of rhetoric to describe, than the aroma 
and freshness of the flower are to be discovered in the per- 
fume distilled from it. 


CHAPTER VII. 

Love’s the first net which spreads its deadly mesh ; 

Ambition, avarice, vengeance, glory, gild 

The glittering lime-twigs of our latter days, 

Where still we flutter on for pence or praise. 

***** 

Day ne’er will break 

On mountain-tops more heavenly fair than her ; 

She was so like a vision. Don Juan. 

Reader, I call upon thy fancy, that god-like sense, that 
helps the setting sun to gild this barren waste, and cheat us 
into a belief that some happiness is to be found here. 
Let it paint to thee an embodied seraph in that most inte- 
resting epoch of life, when all that is brilliant and affectionate 
in the girl blends with the gracefulness and ease of the 
accomplished woman, with a sufficient precocity of talent to 
render that union premature. Imagine this, and you have 
before you a faint outline of Letitia Carleton. That outline 
it is for me to fill up. 

In stature somewhat above the general height, she pos- 
sessed a figure as light and soft as any image in a poet’s 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


45 

dream* and a waist of such fairy dimensions, that I am in- 
clined to believe it possessed some power of attraction as 
yet unknown in natural philosophy, strangely tempting the 
fascinated hand to span its circumference; while, lower 
down, her flowing flounces 

furled 

Above the prettiest ankle in the world. 

Delicately formed was the pretty foot which occasionally 
peeped out ; and the possessor might well be pardoned the 
vanity which would have indulged herself with a full glance 
at it. 

But happily she was yet too young and too artless to 
mar her charms by vanity or affectation ; and what served 
considerably to enhance them was, that being a perfect 
novice in affaires de cceur , she was of course untainted by that 
most common female failing, — coquetry. Yet 1 hardly 
know if it be just thus harshly to condemn those fair 
creatures who “ lie with such a grace for, after all, what 
is there that marriage brings to compare with the intense 
hours which precede it ? Why therefore should women, any 
more than men, be confined to a single enjoyment of such 
hours ? Certainly a man’s heart may be supposed to har- 
bour rather an odd feeling at being jilted ; but then again, 
were there no coquettes, the male flirts would find them- 
selves in rather an awkward situation with the continual 
change of — affections unalterably placed, — feelings betrayed 
— elder brother (perhaps in the army ! “ who sits on briers 
till he kills his man,”) — marriage — honourable satisfaction. 

- — ringing in his ears, the last of which I take to be an ex- 
ceeding dull or leaden compliment at most. 

But to proceed. Letitia’s face was oval, of a complexion 
extremely fair ; so much so, that it conveyed the idea of 
some sweet flower drooping to fade. Her nose was strictly 
Grecian, with a high-arched nostril, through which delicate 
texture the crimsoned light still found its way : while be- 
neath were two thin and finely-formed lips ; the upper, 
projecting into a little point, seemed the embodied reality 
of a kiss, while both concealed a set of teeth, minute, but: 
the beau ideal of whiteness and regularity. Though the 
most unmeaning critic (these are generally the most fasti- 
dious) would have been puzzled to find fault with any of 


46 * cavendish; or, 

her features, beautiful as they were, their effect was over* 
powered by the heavenly blue eyes, which gave life, light, 
and animation to all around them. ’Twere very hard to say 
what was the -expression that glowed within ; but the result 
was to excite an uneasy sort of palpitation in the heart and 
brain of the beholder. In Letitia’s eyes, which were large, 
and seeming more to float than move, not only the pupil 
was blue, but the surrounding orb partook of the same ce- 
lestial tinge, while all around the thickly-fringed lids, the 
transparent skin discovered the tiny purple veins wandering 
beneath. A pair of very slight but dark eye-brows, to- 
gether with an expansive forehead, that a phrenologist might 
have worshipped, completed Nature’s lovely picture, half 
hidden, yet considerably brightened by the rich and glossy 
tangles of her auburn hair, rebelling against all efforts to 
confine them. With all this, as I before remarked, there 
was that indefinable ease so much the characteristic of her 
station, which, even at the age of sixteen, foretold that her 
womanhood would possess much of what was then so indis- 
pensable — tournure. Reader, could you look on such a 
being and not agree in saying with me, 

H er overpowering beauty made you feel 
It would not be idolatry to kneel? 

4t Lady Carleton at home ?” I inquired, on reaching the 
door. 

“ No, sir, she is not down stairs vet,” was the dismal 
reply. 

“ What an unfortunate dog I am !” was the sentence on 
my lips, as I reluctantly pulled out my card-case. “ Is 
Miss Carleton within, then ?” 

“ Yes, sir.” 

“ Ah, exactly the same,” though of course far better in 
my views ; and, hastily replacing the card-case in my 
pocket, I followed the footman up stairs. 

“ What! Mr. Cavendish, is it you?” said Letitia, rising 
from her harp at the window. “You have of late become a 
perfect stranger ; — but I had forgotten your late embarka- 
tion in a profession. I certainly must confess my warm 
admiration of sailors. I would much rather know you were 
one of them, than see you in the army, of which you thought 
at one time.” » 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


47 


“ I am glad to hear you say so ; it at once reconciles me 
to my choice ; hut I must nevertheless own some slight 
penchant for the coats of scarlet.” 

“ Indeed ! Have the expectations which you formed 
then been disappointed ?” 

“ Why, no, not exactly ” 

Here the remembrance of the marine pulling at my leg 
came across me. 

“ Positively the truth is this ; I have seen so very little, 
that as yet I can hardly form any judgment. Ask me in 
two months hence, and you shall know what I think on the 
subject. But how have you been since our last parting ? 
and how is Lady Carleton ? I hope her health is improved. 
The principal object of my call this morning, secondary of 
course to seeing your fair self, was to inquire the truth of a 
report I heard from my father : namely, that you were both 
going to take a passage in the Niobe to Naples. This 
rumour appeared too delightful to have any foundation ; J 
therefore posted here immediately to be put out of suspense. ' 

“ Delightful ! suspense !” replied Letitia, unconsciously 
repeating my words, which were rather more expressive 
than I had intended, at the same time colouring slightly. 
“ Yes, it is quite true; it pleases me exceedingly to see you 
—you — I mean to say, I am — happy that our society will 
add to your amusement . )} 

“ Amusement ! you must be sure it has always been more 
highly esteemed than that.” 

There was a slight pause ; we had entered upon a sort of 
debateable land, where neither was willing to advance. A 
pause I hate, and people who cannot or will not talk, I 
detest. It is with me, therefore, a rule to break the former, 
and cut the latter. 

“ Apropos of amusements, — I fear I have interrupted 
yours,” said I, moving towards tne harp at the window. 
“ Indulge me once more with that beautiful song in II Ma- 
trimonio Segreto , which ” 

“ Oh, I know which you mean ; but I have lent the 
book.” 

“ Unfortunate ! here, however, is another, from II 
Virata .” 

“ That is a. duet.” 


9 


48 cavendish; or, 

“ True ; I had forgotten." 

“ Or rather say that you will sing a second/' 

" Sing a second ? I :ing ? Did you tell me to sing ? 
I, who never tried my vocal powers more than once, at a 
masquerade, in the character of a ballad-monger's boy !" 

“ But I am certain you do sing ; your cousin assured me 
of it." 

“Did she? A mere joke; something to talk of after 
the weather." 

“Nay, do sing ; there is no occasion for your being 
so very bashful ; there is no one to hear you except our- 
selves." 

“ Very true ; I own my excessive timidity, and as there 
is no one to hear us except ourselves, I think I may as well 
comply with your request." 

“ Oh, thank you. What will you sing ?" 

“ Why," I replied, “ as the leaves accidentally opened at 
the song, nothing I think can be more appropriate at the 
present juncture than this, — Caro mano dell' amove and I 
intuitively clasped the model of a hand that was hanging 
listlessly over its harp-strings, and pressed it to my lips. 

I was about to utter something French, and very tender, 
when a voice from behind interrupted me with, “Or if 
your highness would condescend to sing in English, 4 I’m 
no desponding lover,' it would suit the occasion quite as 
well ; your taste is excellent ; do you always employ your 
tdte-cl-tdtes to such advantage ?” 

I looked up, and at this inauspicious moment Lady 
Carleton stood beside me. Letitia hastily drew her hand 
from mine, and blushed deeply ; but notwithstanding the 
expression of displeasure which she put on, I saw (or 
fancied) an assurance of forgiveness beneath. Though 
rather surprised at my own boldness, this reassured me — in 
those days, a genius who piqued himself on doing and 
saying things with a possession unattained by others. Be- 
sides, I was only sixteen. Oh, ye ingenuous youth ! yours 
is the spring-time of true pleasure, if in any degree ye 
belong to the cognoscenti ; how much is pardoned and 
permitted then ! 

No mothers choose their daughters for your wife. 

No brothers cast their bullets for your lite. 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


49 


But to proceed. No, faith, your ladyship/’ I replied, 
“ I have experienced the hour when things have hung 
heavier on hand.” 

“ What, than a kiss ” 

- Yes.” 

“ I think, myself, its weight seldom oppresses one.” 

“ Very true, Lady Carleton; and as I dislike to be par- 
ticular in my attentions, allow me to repeat the same salu- 
tation on your own fair fingers.” 

“ Ah,” said the handsome widow, “ I see you are a true 
son of Lord Charles ; you are only a boy, you know, or I 
should look very serious on such proceedings;” and I re- 
ceived a pat on the cheek, as much as to say you’re delight- 
fully impudent. 

“ So we are to have the pleasure of your ladyship’s com- 
pany as far as Naples ? Have you seen Captain Sawyer 
yet ?” 

“ He calls here this morning.” 

“ Indeed ! I have never seen him ; describe him to me.” 

I never like to give my opinion when people can judge 
for themselves. I rather admire him ; there is a great 
deal of good-natured candour about him — I might almost 
say brusquerie — which presents such a refreshing contrast 
to the insipid masses of dull matter continually revolving 
around us. Fe is completely the sailor, a clever man, w r ith 
much information.” 

“ Well, I am glad to hear you say so ; it at once puts to 
flight the impressions left on my mind by accidentally over- 
hearing a conversation between the boatswain and gunner, 
the only inference from which was, that men of his rank 
seldom cared to know their profession. This, I now see, is 
no more than a narrow, ignorant prejudice.” 

“ Nothing more, I assure you ; but who are these bosain - 
gunner people whom you mention ?” 

“ Why, I certainly ought to beg pardon for mentioning 
them at all; but in truth they are some of the — in short, some 
of the canaille that we are troubled with on board a ship ; 
for even there, (as in fact every where,) that horridly uni- 
versal class presents itself ; and on board, though exceed- 
ingly useful men, every captain I understand, of any sense, 

E 


50 


CAVENDISH J OR, 


makes it a rule to treat them just one degree below his 
dog” 

Here “ fashion’s loud thunder woke the sounding door,” 
as Havley tells us, and Captain Sawyer was announced. 
A middle height, well made, with a face in which there was 
a due admixture of the comic and austere, was his exterior. 
At first you saw nothing of the character which Ladv 
Carleton had described, but rather the hauteur and reserve 
of high breeding ; beneath this you might perceive much of 
the spirit of good humour and gaiety ; while through all, 
there occasionally broke forth flashes of a rather energetic 
temper. 

“ Allow me to introduce Mr. Cavendish to you. I 
believe he has the honour of belonging to your ship.” 

“ Cavendish ! Cavendish ! yes, I think there is a name 
like that. I cannot say I expected to meet one of my 
officers here. How is it you are not down fitting the ship 
out ? — eh, youngster, how is that ?” 

" Truly, Captain Sawyer, I made the attempt once ; but 
they tried to drown me, — having had the good fortune to 
escape, however, I returned to town to recover myself.” 
And placing my hand over my side, at the same time mutter- 
ing something about inflammation, I took my leave, not 
caring to re-enter the subject of fitting the ship out, while 
in his eye I very plainly read the desire of sending me down 
to Portsmouth. 

Time’s wheel halts in its revolutions for no one, and each 
day saw me a visitor at the Carletons. I either rode or 
walked with them, very oiten with only Letitia, to some 
shop or bazaar, or similar depository of articles, which my 
friends found it necessary to purchase before leaving this 
our isle of freedom and taxation ; taking very good care 
never to want an engagement with them, or risk a meeting 
with Captain Sawyer. 

“ Manvers,” said my father to me one day, “ I cannot 
believe that you are well, or else it is that this naval affair 
is not so pleasant, now that it approaches nearer. Give up 
this wildgoose chase, and 1 will send you to make the tour 
of Italy and Switzerland. Then when you return, you can 
come in for one of my boroughs. I cannot say I admire 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA, 


51 


these war and salt-water expeditions ; what is a hero after 
all ? — a mere laughing-stock, a jest to be held up to the 
rabble ; or better still, to be shot like Byng, or forgotten 
like Nelson, cum cceteris ! Pooh, pooh ! fling away such 
aspirations till you have countrymen worth fighting for, 
men who wil refuse to let a commander-in-chief be trampled 
in the dust, because the ministers or the mob wish it. 
Athens is not single or unimitated in leaving her best 
friends to neglect or even to destruction. Mere smoke, 
Manvers, mere smoke. Take my advice ; sit in parliament, 
talk nothing but sophistry, get a good sinecure — rail at 
reform,* that is — say the time’s not come — write on patrio- 
tism and vote for slavery, both negro and Catholic, and 
thank your God for making you a good Christian. When 
you have done all this, and approach the prime of life like 
myself, at fifty or sixty, you may look back on your past 
principles as the very acme of philosophy. Above all, take 
care that your coat is neither red nor blue , but both — which 
being, as Lawrence tells us in his lectures, the true neutral 
tint, serves very well for the first shade, any other colour 
being most easily laid on afterwards. This, in political 
slang, is termed ratting ; but depend on it, any one who is 
foolish enough to let what is called public opinion weigh 
with him, is a lost man — his pockets are turned — far w r orse 
than his coat — inside out, and his peace of conscience (that 
is, his rest at night) gone for ever. These have, always r 
been my principles through life ; you see the happy results 
working from it. No, no, thank Heaven, I had a part in 
sending Napoleon to St. Helena ! 

Who burnt (confound his soul f) the houses twain 
Of Covent Garden and of Drury Lane ; 

Who made the quartern loaf and Luddites rise ; 

Who filled the butcher’s shop with large blue flies ; 

Yes, he, who forging for this isle a yoke, 

Reminds me of a line I lately spoke — 

The tree of freedom is the British oak. 

* The reader will bear in mind that this, 3nd some five or six chapters 
following, were written before the downfall of the Wellington adminis- 
tration, while yet no glimmering of that light was seen which has since 
burstforth to illumine a country darkened by the shadow of forthcoming 
anarchy, confusion and blood. Witness the kind intentions of Mr. 
Swing, who endeavoured certainly to throw some light on the matter. 
He is now, however, on the decline — I wish I could say on the drop i 

E 2 


52 CAVENDISH ; OR, 

“ Yes, I was one who had a voice in that matter ; and I 
hope you will one dav live to send his son there. This is 
the exposition ; there are two sets of people in our flourish- 
ing and happy kingdom ; first, those useful fools who^ 
consent to lose their lives and limbs, previously suffering 
incredible hardships in defence of our glorious constitution ; 
and then come ourselves, the true reflecting philosophers 
who form that constitution, revelling in the honey which 
the labours of others have first gathered and now protect. 
I see I have convinced you ; it could not be otherwise, after 
such a brilliant exposd. Gad, Manvers, I must put this 

down on paper — do for the House. But stay ” Here 

a look of extreme sorrow came over his countenance. “ I 
support the other side of the question there. No, no,” 
mournfully shaking his head, " it will only do for the 
library — and yet — I think — patriotism must be a fine feeling ; 
but it certainly is not philosophy. Well, I never saw life 
in this point of view before ! An odd thing is this world, at 
most ; but I know I have considered the question in every 
light, over and over again, i Lave always seen integrity 
dying on a straw-litter, rascality on a bed of down ; utrum 
horum mavis accipe ? I have therefore resolved in my own 
mind, ever since it attained its reasoning powers — now, 
thank Heaven, endued with no slight degiee of acumen — 
that the last words of my highly-gifted deceased parent 
were perfectly correct ; it is a motto which, while you 
make it the rule of your life, you may boast as having 
descended from father to son, — * 

Self-interest, my son, is true philosophy. 

Those were his words, a perfect moral axiom. Now, 
then, as I am about to pass the Admiralty, on my way to 
Downing-street, I can drive in, and get your name erased 
from the Niobe’s books.” 

Saying this, he moved towards the door. “ Not on any 
account, thank you,” I replied ; “ mottos coming down in 

* The reader must know that the hero’s original cognomen was not 
Cavendish, it having been changed ; so that the name and the character 
are not very consistent. The Devonshire family have earned and 
obtained with their countrymen, the fame of being as noble in senti- 
ment as in birth. 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


53 


such a manner, are not according to my ideas on the 
subject ; I say, rather let every man judge of life according 
to his own feelings. Besides, you forget that my unex- 
panded mind is not as yet sufficiently powerful to cope with 
the depth and broadness of my grandfather’s. Should my 
opinions undergo any change on arriving at Naples, it will 
not then be too late to leave the service, and I shall be so 
far advanced on my tour. I am sensible, nevertheless, of 
your kind intentions, but my resolution on that subject is 
fixed, and, with all my follies, I may lay claim to some 
determination.” 

“ Incredible ! monstrous ! that a son of mine (at least I 
have ev^ry reason to believe so) should take the weak side, 
and therefore the wrong side, of the question ; should rather 
be the slave than the tyrant. I enter my protest against it. 
This mode of feeling never came from me — hereditary mad- 
ness — Brompton Villa. — Since you are so strong-headed, 
you must have your own will — never return alive, I see it 
plainly ; instead of your name figuring in a glorious majority 
against reform, slavery, or the Catholic question ; that 
name, which I vainly tell you has descended from I know 
not how many generations, will be consigned to oblivion in 
a gazette, which fools call glory. Is this the recompense 
of my unflinching principles, to be cursed with an obstinate 
son * Well, indeed, may I 

Wonder why the devil I got heirs! 

Here is a letter from Captain Sawyer, desiring you to join 
immediately saying which, he pulled it from his pocket as 
warily as a bailiff might be supposed to do a writ. “ And 
here,” he continued, taking up a newspaper, “ is a para- 
graph which says we have determined on war with Algiers, 
and that the Niobe is to take out the declaration ; therefore, 
in all probability, sir, you will leave your bones the other 
side of Gibraltar. Go, by all means, let your teeth be 
lapped in human gore, and your claim established to our 
national characteristic of hull- dogs.” 

“ Exactly, sir, I will. Meanwhile, I wish you a good 
morning ; ” saying which, I left the room. The letter was 
worthy of a Spartan ; it ran thus : — 


54 


CAVENDISH ; OR, 


ct Sir, 

“ We sail the day after to-morrow. You had better join 
to-day. 

“ I am. Sir, 

“ London ” “ R. C. Sawyer.” 

With this characteristic epistle in my pocket, I proceeded 
once more to Lady Carleton’s. 


CHAPTER VIII. 

And in the mix’d and motley congregation 
Were nobles, gentles, ruffians, and what not, 

People most meet for any situation, 

Who slept in hammocks, or who slung a cot. 

On arriving at the house of Lady Carleton, I found that 
she also had received a letter written an hour after mine, in 
which the Niobe’s sailing was postponed four days ; of 
course the moment of my joining received the same delay, 
for, strange to say, much of my zeal had perished when the 
boat upset. 

“ When do you think of going down to Portsmouth ?” I 
inquired. 

“ The ship sails on Sunday. Friday, therefore, must be 
the latest that we shall remain in town.” 

“ Of all things,” I remarked, “ nothing is more disagree- 
able than riding in a stage-coach on dusty-roads.” 

“ Dusty roads ! Surely you forget this month is Decem- 
ber : the roads ” 

<e True, I had forgotten ; but in my ideas, travelling and 
dust are always assimilated.” 

“ Granting they are, what has a stage-coach to do with 
it ? You have no intention of going in that way, have 
you ?” 

“ Either so, or take my father’s carriage and horses as 
far as the first stage, send the horses back, and post the re- 
mainder. My father himself is not going, and as I dislike 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


55 


travelling alone, perhaps the first plan, though very dis- 
agreeable, may be the least so of the two . 0 

“ But there is no occasion for either . 0 

“ How so ?” 

“ Because there will be a vacant seat, indeed two, in our 
carriage ; so that if ° 

“ Thank you, but shall I not incommode ?° 

“ Oh, not at all ; we shall be very glad to have you. I 
think with you, conversation beguiles the road of many a 
mile ; reading, unless you have some very entertaining 
book, one of Scott’s novels for instance, soon becomes 
tedious . 0 

“ Yes, I prefer society myself ;° and I looked at Letitia, 
who seemed far from displeased at the arrangement. 

\ Having thus accomplished my end and aim, all was as it 
should be, except that impertinent busy-body — memory,, 
asking, “ Do you recollect Captain Sawyer’s letter?” 
“ Really, sir, I do wish you would be mute ; I have every 
recollection of the captain’s letter ; but then, — he happens 
not to be a pretty woman.” 

“ Have you any thing in view, fair ladies, to kill time 
this morning ?° 

“ Nothing in particular ; you seem very kindly to have 
taken that trouble off our hands, and ably you perform the 
task. What have you to propose ?” 

“ Sontag, Malibran Garcia, Stockhausen, with a few 
others of minor note, give a morning concert to-day at the 
Argyle — will you go ? Stockhausen has very lately come 
over. Three such good singers are seldom heard together, 
and I wish to enjoy such a pleasure before leaving town : 
their hour is half-past two ; you have sufficient time.” 

“ Letitia, what do you say ?° inquired the mother ; “ you 
may hear Caro mano .” 

“ Or should she not, I should be most happy to repeat it 
at your pleasure.” 

“ I doubt it not.” 

“ Then we go ; is it so ?” and accordingly we went. 

Friday morning came, and each item of my wants having 
been cared for, I met my father for the last time at break - 
last. 

Oh ! that feeling which every one must have experienced, 


CAVENDISH ; OR, 


56 

when the attainment of pleasure is through a path of sad - 
ness, and we are about to strike forth on the stream of this 
world’s adventures — that mixture of joy and sorrow, when 
the heart will chide itself that it can part from those it 
ought to love, without feeling more than it actually does 
In spite of all my father’s eccentricities, there was much to* 
attach me to him. Our intercourse was more like that be- 
tween two friends of equal ages, than parent and son. In 
this spirit w T e conversed together, joked together, and 
squabbled together ; a circumstance which, however, in 
after-life was doomed to be productive of some bad effects, 
since it sent me forth endowed with a precocity of feelings 
and opinions, and, what is more, a mode of expressing 
them, which the world, that wilful set of creatures, mistook 
for too great a share of assurance : how could they err so 
widely ? 

“ Of course, Manvers, you have given orders about the 
horses ?” said my father. 

“ Horses ! no : — what horses ?” 

“ Why, as you seem bent upon following up this whim of 
yours, I shall at any rate see you on board, under charge of 
Captain Sawyer.” 

“ Charge ! nonsense ! charge ! surely I am able to take 
care of myself. Recollect how I shall be jeered by brother 
officers, if it is known that my papa came to take care of his 
darling. Pray give up such a scheme.” 

“ Give it up ! no, I shall not give it up. — Is your mind 
so weak that you would feel ashamed at owning your affec- 
tion for an only parent ?” 

“ Positively this is complete folly ; but since you are so 
affectionately disposed this morning, I promise, if you will 
renounce going down to Portsmouth, to give you half a 
dozen kisses and as many embraces as you please, with only 
two stipulations, — keep out the servants, and don’t weep, 
for that would be too affecting.” 

“ Manvers, I take this to be very ill-timed, and unfeeling 
beyond what I could have expected from you. Unthinking 
boy ! that thus our last parting perhaps in this world should 
be so embittered !” 

As he uttered this, the tone convinced me that more was 
felt than expressed. 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


57 

“ I beg your pardon, I did but jest; you cannot know 
my feelings, nor I yours. You will oblige me much by re- 
linquishing your project —we can part with far more free- 
dom here ; it would only be a gloomy journey for both of 
us.” 

“If it must be so, then I — ha ! what carriage is that 
drawing up ?” 

" Oh, I forgot to mention ; Lady Carleton said she would 
call on her way, as she has a seat at my option. Shall I 
take it ?” 

“ Go my dear boy, go — you must feel it has never been 
my wish to thwart you ; may you soon be safely restored to 
merto follow some less hazardous amusement! God bless 
you my only son !” 

My heart was full, so were my eyes. Turning hastily 
and silently away, I got into the carriage. A few moments 
elapsed, while Lady Carleton shook my father’s hand, from 
the window, and the servant secured the baggage, when the 
rattling wheels announced the commencement of our 
“ Travel.” 

A few hours brought us down to Portsmouth, and the 
George. How well known and remembered is that name 
on every station ! ** which mentioned, to the eye appear” all 
the delicacies which our clime produces, causing us to over- 
look the hard and tasteless piece of salt junk before it, which 
fancy replaces by a delicate and piquant ragout ; but never, 
oh, ye John Bulls! by that vile, vulgar, national joint, a 
piece of roast beef. No wonder an Englishman is so 
choleric and bloated, when you happen to view on a Satur- 
day, in passing through some country town, those immense 
masses of raw bullock, for home consumption. The Lord 
preserve me from a rib of beef! and save the French who 
first invented cookery without carving ! 

At the George was Captain Sawyer, who being aware of 
Lady Lucy’s intended arrival, was with all kindness and 
courtesy waiting to receive her. On seeing him I bowed ; 
he returned it not ; I bowed again, half articulating some- 
thing about leave. After looking in my face without the 
slightest recognition, he inquired what I might want. 

•' I believe we have met before, sir,” said I. “ My name 


CAVENDISH ; OR, 


58 

is Cavendish ; I belong to the Niobe, and came to join her 
before she proceeds to sea.” 

“ Do you belong to the Niobe ? indeed! I should not have 
imagined so by the attention you paid to my letter : how- 
ever, — here, this way,” said he, walking from the lobby 
where this occurred to the door of the hotel. “ Lord 
Pinchit,” he continued, addressing a midshipman in waiting, 
“ this is Mr. Cavendish, your future messmate ; take him 
on board in my gig ; tell Mr. Queer he has condescended to 
join at last ; and remember he is not a cat, and you are not 
to drown him : — whether he is a puppv or not is another 
matter,” I heard him mutter to hims:if. 

“ Ay, ay, sir,” returned Lord Pinchit, offering to show 
me the way. 

“ Wait a moment, will you ?” I replied ; I cannot be so 
rude as to go off without wishing Lady Carleton good 
morning.” 

“Never mind,” interrupted Captain Sawyer, I will make 
your excuses.” 

“ Thank you ; but — there is — some luggage ” 

“ Make vourself unconcerned ; that shall be sent on 
board.” 

“ But I ought to give something to the footman,” I re- 
turned, still trying to get off for a moment. 

“I will do that ; there, get on board, my lord, as soon 
as you can ;” and with these words he laid a hand on each 
of our shoulders, gently propelling us forward ; when find- 
ing nothing was to be done with him, I proceeded, \vishing 
his politeness at the devil. “ I should not have thought the 
delay in answering his note would have annoyed him. Make 
myself unconcerned, indeed ! I wish to gracious you 
could have done the same. Make my excuses — see about 
my luggage — pay the footman — how truly solicitous you 
are ! But I might have known, had I read my Bible, when 
Heaven wishes to punish man, it sends him some kind 
friend.” 

Having entered the boat, the freshness of the breeze, and 
the rate at which we went, soon dispelled the fumes of 
spleen. 

“ A very lucky ducking that was for you, when you were 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 59 

upset whilst the ship was fitting out 1” said my new com- 
panion. 

“ Indeed, my Lord ! do you think so ?” 

“ Every one must think so.” 

“ Every one ? Explain yourself ; you seem to entertain 
singular ideas ; for how a man can be esteemed lucky who 
narrowly escapes death by considerable suffering, is to me 
rather paradoxical.” 

“ Very little of a paradox,” he returned, “ when it has 
given you two months leave cf absence during the most 
disagreeable part of a ship’s commission. The captain has 
been expecting you down for two weeks past, and does not, 
I think, seem very well pleased at the delay.” 

Not considering this to be the most happy subject which 
a stranger might have chosen, I remained silent till we 
arrived on board ; and contented myself with eyeing the 
exterior of my Lord Pinchit, a youth whom I afterwards 
found to be unworthy of the noble stock from whence he 
sprung. 

His face, which had an effeminate cast of beauty, bore 
little for the eye to read, save one expression, much puffed- 
up pride , producing on his features the same effect which 
the passion itself worked on his character, throwing a dis- 
agreeable veil, as it were, over both, and hiding beneath 
the only redeeming traits in his disposition, a quickness of 
perception, and powers of conversation not altogether un- 
amusing. 

“ Glad to see ye aboard, Mr. Cavendish — hope ye’ve had 
a good spell of it. Got a watch-bill yet ? No, dare say — 
here’s mine : take and copy it, and let me have it in half an 
hour. You’ll consider yourself in Mr. Tomnoddy’s watch. 
When did you come down ? — oh, this morning — had no 
dinner, dare say — dine with us ? — rCaptain Sawyer never 
thought of that,” and Michael (it was he) having cross- 
examined himself till out of breath, left off his interroga- 
tories, though not with the idea that I might answer him, 
for that was a thing he only required on particular occa- 
sions ; and before I could reply he sprang beyond hearing. 

.While loitering on the deck, thinking of those constant 
subjects, the past and the future, some one tapped me on 
the shoulder. I turned, and was overjoyed to recognise 


60 CAVENDISH ; OR, 

the face of an old schoolfellow. “ My dear D’Aquilar, and 
can it be yourself, Joy, that I see ?” 

“ Faith, and I believe it's much like me/’ he replied ; 
“ but how in the name of good fortune is it that we meet 
here ? It would seem that our fates still hang together.” 

*' It would seem so, indeed, and I am rejoiced to observe 
it. How long have you been enrolled in the blues ?” 

Nearly three weeks. If you recollect when we last 
parted, I was to leave Eton in six months. Since that I have 
been with the governor in Ireland ; but having determined 
to taste old Ocean’s fresh breezes, I have taken the shilling, 
may be to repent, if that be in my nature, hereafter : how- 
ever, now that I am, as you say, a blue warrior, I consider 
myself very fortunate in meeting with you. We must enter 
into our old compact of Oxford House, for I find bullying is 
as much in vogue here as it was there.” 

“ You are right,” I replied. “ I discovered as much 
on the first night of my joining in Portsmouth harbour.” 

“ What, then ! you have joined before ?” 

“ O yes, long before the ship came out here to Spithead. 
Indeed, it was only a few weeks after she had been first 

commissioned, when I was obliged to knock old 

down ; but I can tell you that another day. Well, I do 
feel rejoiced to meet you. I am at once at home. You 
must know all these fellows pretty thoroughly by this time ; 
pray give me the names, weights, and colours of the riders, 
as the word goes at Newmarket and Epsom.” 

“ So I will; meanwhile time will be jogging. What a 
vulgar appetite this sea air gives one ! and what a still more 
vulgar thing it is to walk up and down these interlined 
planks for four hours. But to begin. You see that pale- 
faced mortal opposite, with a piece of lace on his shoulder ? 
pay him every respect, I beg, since he is no less a personage 
than Lieutenant Tomnoddy, the officer of our watch. I 
believe he is aware (allowing him to use his fingers) that 
four and four are eight, that the alphabet contains from one 
to three dozen letters, that four o’clock is his dinner-hour, 
and that every three months he earns a quarter’s pav : but 
beyond this, his knowledge is not to be vouched for. His 
chief characteristic is, that he serves Michael for an echo, 
even more responsive than that of the eating-rooms ; f-rid 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


61 


of the lieutenants, — you may say he is ‘ the chastest, best, — 
but quite a fool/” 

“ What echo of the eating-rooms is that vou allude 
to ?” 

44 Why, the other day, Michael and himself went up to 
town for twenty-four hours, when Michael took him to a 
set of dining-rooms, near Covent Garden. Here Tomnoddy 
observed a man bawling down an iron cylinder the names 
of the meats the guests required, such as * Beef for one/ &c. ; 
the man below repeating the words to show that he under- 
stood them. This being observed by Tomnoddy, he inquired 
of Michael the meaning. 4 Oh/ said Michael, who is as 
fond of a joke as any one, 4 that is the echo/ 4 Echo ! 
echo ! you surprise me ! — how curious ! very odd ! quite 
philosophical !’ a favourite phrase of his, when he does not 
understand the subject he discusses. 4 Well, I declare ! so 
distinct ! I should like to go down and see it : very curious 
indeed I’ Presently the waiter hallooed down, ‘ Mutton- 
chops for one !’ 4 Mutton-chops for one !’ returned the echo ! 
4 Saddle of mutton for three !’ 4 Saddle of mutton for three !’ 
‘ Hark ! how very distinct, Michael !’ 4 Oh, very/ returned 

Michael. * Now listen again !’ 4 Beefsteak-pie for two !’ 

Han’t a got none !’ replied the echo, very unphilosophically. 
4 Holloa !’ cried Tomnoddy, starting back with the face of 
Gascoyne when struck by Prince Henry : 4 there now, too 
bad of you, Michael, to cram me in that way. I thought 
it couldn’t be an echo !’ — So much for him ! This tale, 
together with his adulation of Michael, who once broke 

forth at the mess-table with the exclamation of 4 D 

you, Mr. Tomnoddy, you’ll suck me as dry as a bone !’ — I 
say this detestable meanness has earned him the title of 
4 The Echo.’ But enough of him ; although he is the 
lieutenant with whom you will have the most connexion, 
except Mike, and you can judge of him for yourself. 
How do you imagine I found him employed at our first 
meeting ?” 

44 That is impossible for me even to guess. — How ?” 

44 When I opened the gun-room door to report myself, 
there was the first-lieutenant holding by the sleeves and 
tail, a new full-dress uniform coat, with all the gold-lace on 
except the epaulette, which ever and anon he lifted up to 


62 


CAVENDISH ; OR, 

strike a poor miserable tailor, who, with his hands held up 
to guard his face, was blindly running round the gun-rooni 
table, Michael following him, flogging away with the coat 
as vigorously as a thresher would with his flail. ‘ Come 
on board to join, sir,' said I. 4 Very good ,’ he replied to 
me ; then addressing the tailor, * You infernal rascal !’ then 
to me, 4 What’ s your name ? — you, I mean, you would-be mid- 
shipman ? ’ ‘ Mine, sir ? D’Aquilar.’ 4 Oh, — you dirty, 

paltry, cabbage- devouring sufferer !’ ‘ Oh, dear sir/ inter- 

rupted the tailor, 4 I am indeed a sufferer/ ‘ Oh, confound 
your sufferings ! you wanted to make me suffer, did you ? 
a good-for-nothing parchment-snipping hound ! — lash me 
up in a dandy coat like a dead marine in his hammock ? 
I’ll teach you how to cut your cloth next time. Give me a 
coat that wouldn’t button by three inches !’ The coat was 
again beaten about the man’s head, as he and Michael 
scampered round the table, while the officers were looking 
out of their surrounding cabins enjoying the sport. I was 
thunderstruck, and Michael seeing some surprise in my 
countenance at the flagellation, said to me, as he ran past, 

* Go on deck, I’ll be there by-and-bye.’ ‘ Very well, sir/ 
exclaimed the tailor, overjoyed. 4 Not you, you ragamuffin. 
I’ve not finished with you yet ; a scoundrel !’ (whack, 
whack) and away they went once more round and round, 
like a school-boy with his top. I had no sooner, however, 
quitted the doorway than the tailor made a rush, and, as I 
had purposely left it open, he succeeded in gaining the deck ; 
and, jumping into a boat, rowed for the shore, without once 
inquiring for his coat. Up came Michael after him, pell- 
mell, close at his heels, and reached the gangway at the 
very moment when the tailor had shoved off beyond his 
reach. Looking at the departing prey for a minute in 
silence, with a face full of ire, he exclaimed, shaking both 
his fists, ‘ Oh, you beggar !’ 

“ The name of that little boy whom you see there is- 
Bigot. He possesses all the arrogance, ignorance and in- 
solence of your thorough-bred high churchman, a stupid 
insignificant little puppy : but, like every other baby, very 
quiet, provided you give him his own way. Contrasted 
with him stands a gentleman, and a scholar, the Honourable 
Frederick Green. You hear his name, and ask how he 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


63 


should be anything else — son of the celebrated speaker, the 
carl — a quiet, unobtrusive, amiable fellow, remarkable 
amongst us, for never having been heard to utter a single 
word that he would be ashamed to write — no slight cool- 
ness a man must possess to do that ; — his acquaintance can- 
not but yield vou pleasure. Next to him is Lord William 
Hustle": more good- nature you can scarcely meet with.” 

*' Hustle ! oh, oh, I recollect meeting his brother, a very 
nice fellow, at the George, who mentioned the circumstance 
of a brother being about to sail with Captain Sawyer.” 

“ Yes, that was his brother, Lord Francis, was he 
not ?” 

“ Yes, the same.” 

“ That young man on the booms is Collington. He also 
is one of the good sheep ; he has considerable talent ; of 
course you know the name ; his father is one of our admi- 
rals, and they say he is to have the next Mediterranean 
command. Talking to him, in eager conversation demon- 
strating the possibility of a ship’s sailing without a bottom, 
is Stubbings, for whom I cannot say much ; he is not de- 
ficient under the wig, but has too much vulgarity, and a 
love of bullying about him to suit me, — a son of Sir Wil- 
liam’s, — while looking over and confuting his argument, is 
the good-natured and witty John Roy, one of the best 
beings breathing to make a dull hour less sad. He also 
shines with peculiar lustre, as mate of the forecastle and 
caterer of the youngsters’ berth, ably doing his duty on the 
former, and providing a pudding for the latter seven times 
a- week. You must be friends. Here before us we have 
Blackchops, the son of Admiral Sir Harry Blackchops — 
confound his bones, say I, and fill them with aches ! Only 
fancy the man ! — I was sent to his house on duty to say I 
had brought a boat and a boat’s crew to take his son’s chest 
on board ; when the chest not happening to be ready, die 
allowed me and the boat’s crew to wait outside his door for 
half an hour in the rain. Who does he imagine is going 
to play lacquey to his consequential little self ? A day or 
two afterwards he came on board to see that his son’s chest 
had got a good berth. His son joined late, and it was 
therefore very properly put forward in the bows. This 
erth did not please him ; and. on going to one which be 


64 CAVENDISH ; OR, 

considered better, he ordered the men to turn out the chest 
belonging to some mid, not at hand to assert his rights, 
and put his son’s in its place. What think you of that for 
a half-pay rear of the blue ?” 

“ What sort of a chest was the superseded one ?” 

" Iron-bound, with two brass locks, lettered M. C.” 

“ Confound his bones ! as you say ; why, it is my chest 
he so impudently turned out ! I must see to that.” 

“ Well, that is his son. Those two youngsters next to 
him are a couple of collegians, initiating his young mind 
into some of the wrinkles of the profession. Their names 
are Regent and Thread : the first a fine, sensible, sharp 
lad ; the second of very strong conversational powers, un- 
bounded generosity, and great good nature. I like them 
both much. Plenty of young admirals, you see ; for 
Regent is the son of one, and Thread the nephew of ano- 
ther, both highly distinguished. Yonder, too, is the Ho- 
nourable Clarence, a clever fellow. Coldman you know ; 
also the second master ; and Comyns the clerk, a shrewd 
lad. There are one or two others below : you will run 
against them by-and-bye. But my catalogue, like that of 
Homer’s ships, has extended too long already. Yet hark ! 

I hear the humming-bird : though I eannot say, with 
Byron, * Like houri’s hymn it meets mine ear,’ I should 
have been guilty of a sad omission had I left him out. He 
is our humming-bird. Hark I 5 — ‘ Di Piacer /’ Yes, that’s 
he.” 

“ Where ? where ?” I inquired, as I heard a low indis- 
tinct sort of humdrum, Di Pi-a-c-er urn um ti turn ; for, 
only knowing the first words, it was common with him to 
slide off by slow degrees into some inarticulate sounds, in 
which a very nice ear might distinguish those horrid mono- 
syllables, tol di rol lol. — “ Where is he ?” 

“ Fear not, you will see him presently coming up the 
hatchway ; but, like the wasp, he always strikes upon your 
fintinabulum before he manifests himself on the retina. He 
is one of our chief characters — that is, caricatures — I assure 
you; a — 

Rara avis in nave, et multo simillima asino, 
wl ich you mav at pleasure translate.” 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


65 

Locking* in the direction pointed out, I beheld Lord 
Pinchit slowly emerge from the cavity of the hatchway ; 
his hands in his pockets ; a double portion of consequence 
in his face, and humming the Italian air before mentioned. 
44 Why, that is Lord Pinchit, D’Aquilar ; the captain intro- 
duced me to him.” 

“ Oh ! you do know one of his titles, do you ? then I 
must give you the rest. The most familiar epithet by 
which we know him is ‘ Old Bags/ alias 4 The Marquis de 
Gourmanaise/ so called, from his being, as our polite 
friends on the other side of the channel would say, un 
homme adonne a son ventre. With the exception of that, 
his being very irascible, excessively mean and stingy, and 
having pride enough for the devil and himself too, not much 
can be said against him. In common with his brother ani- 
mals he has a peculiar mode of manifesting his emotions : 
for instance, the snake will hiss, the goose will cackle, the 
puppy snarl ; but Pinchit hums. There are many ludicrous 
stories of his gastronomic propensities, one of which is -so 
absurd, that I must tell it to you, previously saying I can- 
not assert whether it be apocryphal or not. But thus it 
runs : — 

“ Shortly after his first coming on board, he was asked, 
with some other officers, to dine in the cabin. He went. 
Captain Sawyer was very kind to him ; but when dessert 
came on the table, he was observed in tears, with evident 
marks of suffering under extreme anguish. The captain, 
very much surprised, inquired what was the matter. 4 Whish 
— oh — whish — oh 1’ sobbed Pinchit, without giving any 
reply. 4 He hasn’t cut himself, has he ?’ inquired the cap- 
tain. No ; nobody had seen him cut himself. What 
could be the cause ? Was he ill ? 4 Tell me, my boy, are 

you ill ?’ 4 Whish — oh — no — sir / and he hung down his 

head, and cried more than ever. The captain began to be 
alarmed. 4 Come, come, my little fellow, tell me — that’s a 
good boy ; don’t make yourself unhappy about nothing. 
What’s the matter ? Are you thinking of your little play- 
fellows ? — sorry, perhaps, at leaving home ?’ — 4 No — oh — 
no,’ he hiccupped forth. 4 Well, it is most extraordinary 
what the boy can be crying for. Come, youngster, take this 
glass of wine/ pouring out some clar.et, and then tell me 

F 


66 CAVENDISH ; OR, 

what afflicts you/ * I can’t eat any more ! * 4 Can’t eat 

any more !’ repeated Captain Sawyer, while the whole com- 
pany burst into a laugh ; * no necessity to cry for that, I 
should think. Are you sure you cannot eat any more ?* 

* O yes, quite sure,’ answered Pinchit, whining piteously. 

* Very sad,’ returned the captain, keeping up the joke $ 

* but cannot you eat this custard, or one of those jellies ?’ 
— * i wish I could, sir/ 4 Well, then, suppose you try/ — 

* I’m sure I can’t, sir/ moaned his little lordship, more 
afflicted than ever. 4 Well, then, some of these nuts ; at 
any rate you can eat some of them.’ — ‘Not even a nut, sir.’ 
4 Poor little fellow ! then suppose you put a few in your 
pocket ?’ — 4 Oh ! oh ! they’re full already ! Oh — oh — 
oh!”’ 

Here we were interrupted by the stentorian voice of Mi- 
chael. “Tell the officers that the captain’s coming and 
in ten minutes they were all drawn up to receive him. 

On his reaching the deck, every hat was raised to do him 
honour, except mine ; and, as I was not aware of the eti- 
quette on such occasions, my next neighbour very kindly 
knocked it off for me ; when a puff of wind catching it as 
it rolled past the entering port, away it flew overboard. 

44 Mr. Cavendish,” said Captain Sawyer, from the other 
side of the deck. 

44 Sir,” I replied. 

44 Come here,” beckoning with his finger. 44 How was 
it, young man, that you never found your way on board my 
ship before ?” 

44 Why, I was rather indisposed when I received your 
note.” 

44 With what, pray ?” 

44 1 — forget — the — exact medical name, sir, — but some 
affection of the heart looking up to the surgeon, who 
was at hand to help me out with a word. 

44 Pericarditis, perhaps,” said he. 

44 Yes, peritonitis ,” I repeated, catching as nearly as I 
could at the sound ; that was the name Sir Astley gave it.” 

44 Oh!” rejoined the captain, somewhat turned but of 
his course by these hard words, 44 1 do not now very clearly 
comprehend ; hut, in future, you must learn to keep your 
heart in its right place.” 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 67 

•* Very good/’ thought I ; “ but if my heart had covered 
my head at your approach, Heaven help it ! nothing but a 
second ducking would have been in store.” 

I was about to depart. 

“ Stay, Mr. Cavendish ; are you a puppy ?” 

“ What, in the name of patience will you ask next ?** 
thought I ; hut, determined not to be disconcerted, I an- 
swered, “ Why, sir, is this a hound’s kennel ?” 

At first I thought he was going to lose his temper. 
Then, laughing, he replied, “ Well, at any rate, you can 
bark. Only 1 meant to tell you, if you were not near- 
sighted, that that glass and hair-chain are rather the appen- 
dages of a coxcomb.” 

“ Exactly, sir; but I am very near-sighted indeed, and 
cannot see without one.” 

“ Very well ; then this,” pulling out a rope-yarn from 
beneath the quarter of the launch, “will hold it round 
your neck as well as any thing, and look much more ship- 
shape.” 

“ As you please,” and unclasping my last gift from my 
last chere amie y I was obliged to substitute in its place the 
piece of rope-yarn, with no other consolation than the 
firm resolve for the future to place it out of sight in its old 
position. 

“ Now, here’s- another, instead of that gold chain,” said 
the captain, seeing how readily I obeyed, pointing at the 
same time to my watch-guard ; “ 1 don’t bke to see mid- 
shipmen pinked out in such a way. You look something 
more like a tar now ; before you might be taken for a 
soldier.” 

“ Well, at any rate, Captain Sawyer, I hope you 
will supply me with fresh strings when these are worn 
out.” 

“ Strings ! they’re not strings ; we have no strings on 
board a ship, except leading strings for young mules when 
they get restive; they’re rope-yarns — rope-yarns;” and 
the captain walked below, leaving me to secure my watch 
with a rope-yarn. 

The next day when I entered the midshipmen’s berth at 
dinner-time, I could hardly believe my eye- sight. Instead 
of the horrible turn-out which the hulk had presented, every 


68 CAVENDISH ; OR, 

thing wore an air of comfort and cleanliness, which com- 
parison raised into absolute splendour. But this chapter is 
already longer than I intended, and for a description of the 
place in which I am to spend two years and a half of my 
life, I must refer you to the next. 


4. CHAPTER IX. 

Lo, he braves 

The surge and tempest, lighted by her ray, 

And to a happier land wafts merrily away. 

Beattie’s Minstrel. 
The waving pennant oft look’d back 
To that dear land ’twas leaving. Moore. 

A cabin twenty feet long by seven broad, was nearly the 
size of the larboard berth of his Majesty’s ship Niobe. 
Upon the table in the middle of which berth, stood a hand- 
some lamp, assisting two small scuttles to make darkness 
visible. The magnificence of this illumination was reflected 
oack by three decanters of wine, a shining plated cruet- 
stand, and the silver forks, spoons, &c., which were ranged 
around. This was a most welcome sight to me, for the 
idea of living in such a place as I had seen before was 
enough to frighten any one less fastidious than myself. 

Foreseeing the little union of taste between those two 
distinct sets, the youngsters and the oldsters , the captain had 
separated them; the “ oldsters'’ having the right hand, or 
starboard berth to themselves, the “ youngsters” being 
placed in the left-hand, or larboard side, under the care of 
“ honest John Roy,” as he was frequently styled by his 
messmates ; and a very agreeable personage he appeared 
to be. 

At four o’clock Lady Carleton arrived on board, having 
stayed a night at “ the George,” to refresh herself. The 
captain’s after-cabin had been fitted up to receive herself, 
her daughter, and servant, while the captain who was thus 
dislodged, had a temporary cabin built for him on the main 
deck. 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


69 

Being her friend, as well as a stranger on board, I was 
asked to meet her, as was also the surgeon and Tomnoddy, 
who each made their several manoeuvres to gain a seat next 
Letitia. But there, of course, I managed to leave them in 
the back-ground, and as her ladyship took up the captain’s 
entire attention, I so closely imitated his example with the 
daughter, that Tom Thumb, as Tomnoddy was called, 
for shortness and variety, was obliged to confine his at- 
tentions solely to the learned Hippocrates at the bottom of 
the table. 

At ten the next morning we were standing through the 
Needles with a stiff breeze, and 

As old Gossy faded beneath our lea, 

There were half of us heartily sea-sick — the others were sick of 
the sea. 

As kind fate ordained it, the breeze followed us, and in fifty 
hours all traces of our island had vanished beneath the 
horizon. 

On the fifth day, when the wind had considerably de- 
creased, our fair passengers, feeling the first effects of their 
voyage much abated, came upon deck to enjoy the air. 
D’Aquilar and myself were the midshipmen of the watch. 
The moon had not yet risen, but it was a clear cloudless 
night, which awoke in the human breast that voice without 
a name, which bids us feel our alliance with the destinies of 
heaven ; each bright and distant star to which our imper- 
fect nature forbids us yet to soar, finds its image reflected 
in the mirror of our feelings, and in the solemn stillness 
around, the soul of man owns no superior but his God. 
Even now the weather seemed to announce our approach to 
warmer climes. 

As Sir Digby D’Aquilar’ s estate lay close adjoining that 
of the late Honourable Mr. Carleton in Ireland, their fami- 
lies were even more intimate than ourselves. Not knowing 
this, I was surprised to find D’Aquilar an old friend of her 
ladyship, and consequently of her daughter. 

Thus situated, it w T as but natural that we should see much 
more of them than any of the other officers, who were 
perfect strangers ; w T hile we, on the other hand, undeterred 
by the numerous jokes of all around, lost no opportunity of 
such an enjoyment. 


70 


CAVENDISH ; OR, 


The reader already knows that D’Aquilar and myself 
were together at the same school, which was that one 
alluded to in the beginning of this volume. As we then 
entered into a mutual alliance, offensive and defensive, it 
became the means of making us inseparable companions, 
and firm friends. Once more, therefore, to find ourselves 
together, was a source of great joy to both. 

A strong and energetic character was seen in D’Aquilar’s 
most minute actions, and Ifis countenance at once forbade you 
to say that the soul within was one of mediocrity. With all 
the vivacity which nature has given to the Irish, he pos- 
sessed a fervid imagination, great firmness, united with a 
strength and subtility of reasoning and thinking, which 
could hardly be looked for in one so young. Nor is it 
strange to say, after this sketch, that the conclusions de- 
duced from those powers of thought and reason were gene- 
rally wrong. They were too much the children of fancy to 
be adopted by common sense. Allowed for many years to 
own no other master than his own will, he had imbibed all 
those extravagant, and, I may say, turbulent, notions of 
freedom, which but doubly expose the possessor to the con- 
trasts this world presents ; and, through all nations, form 
such a prominent feature in the character of his countrymen . 
Little fitted, therefore, was D’Aquilar for a subordinate 
station in any part of the grand drama. But the discipline 
of the navy was the last thing to which such a mind could 
be brought, save under the experienced hand of one who 
had studied human nature, with the talent of turning that 
study to account ; a thing in public service how rarely met 
with, through the very life- spring of excellence ! For those 
who would learn this science, there can be no better copy 
than the emperor Napoleon* 

D’Aquilar’s features would not have been called hand- 
some for their regularity, but for the language which they 
spoke. A dark complexion, a pair of brilliant and very 
expressive grey eyes, presented a face of great intelligence ; 

* Amidst the numerous instances of this which his life affords, none 
exhibits it more strongly than his review of the French troops after 
their retreat from Acre, when he ordered one body of his men, who 
had hesitated in the last assault, to wear their arms disgraced, for so 
long a period. See “ Revolutionary Plutarch also Bourienne. 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 71 

while in a slight but muscular form, you might trace the 
sympathy of the body with the mind. 

Such was Ernest D’Aquilar, whom to know thoroughly, 
was to love and to admire ; a casual observer might have 
deemed him too hasty, and somewhat rash, but his wild gene- 
rosity and brilliant talents soon led you to forget such trivial 
blemishes. Our ideas were sufficiently assimilated to pro- 
duce attachment, and sufficiently varied to set aside all risk 
of a collision ; while he, being my junior by the slight space 
$f ten months, age did not prevent us from viewing life 
through the same false medium ; 

Gay hope is theirs, by fancy led, 

Less pleasing when possessed; 

The tear forgot as soon as shed, 

The sunshine of the breast. 

The ship’s bells had sounded seven, and the wind came 
gently on our quarter, propelling us at the rate of six or 
seven knots (miles) an hour. Lady Carleton and the cap- 
tain were walking up and down on the quarter-deck, while 
Letitia, D’Aquilar, and myself, were following behind. 

Suddenly our conversation was interrupted by a heavy 
splash and a cry of “ a man overboard ! ” “ Down with the 

buoy, and pipe the second cutter away,” cried the captain, 
springing to execute the first order himself. In an instant 
four-fifths of the ship’s company were on deck, and while 
D’Aquilar conducted the ladies to their cabin, I jumped 
into the cutter to pick up the drowning man. No time 
was lost in getting out our oars, and we pulled in the direc- 
tion of the buoy, whose port-fire was blazing in a beautiful 
manner, reflected by the waves around ; and as its vivid 
glare fell on each succeeding sea, we thought we could per- 
ceive the object of our search clinging to it for support. 

Before the boat could be lowered, and the ship hove-to, 
a space of at least ten minutes had elapsed, consequently 
the buoy was nearly a mile distant ; allowing a second space 
of that length to join it, the seaman would only then have 
been twenty minutes in the water. On coming up with 
the buoy, the light was fast expiring ; and not seeing the 
sailor, we gave utterance to his name, in tones sufficiently 
loud for him to hear if he were at hand. No answer was 
returned. While one of the boat’s crew took in the safety 


72 CAVENDISH ; OR, 

apparatus, I imagined I heard a cry further down to lee- 
ward, “ Give way, my boys, I think I hear him on the 
larboard bow there.” “ Hark, sir,” the captain is hailing. 
“ Mr. Cavendish,” came faintly over the waters, for we had 
gradually drifted within hail of the ship. " Sir ?” “ Have 

you been able to pick him up ?” “ No, sir.” “ We think 

you have got too far down to leeward there ; cannot you 
hear somebody on your starboard bow ? give way in that 
direction.” “ Ay, ay, sir,” I replied, and we immediately 
commenced rowing in the direction desired. “ There,” 
said the captain, again hailing, “ that is near the spot.” 

In vain, as we rested on our oars, did we listen to catch 
the faintest sound, while the utmost exertions of our eye- 
sight could discern nothing more than the swelling waters. 
“ Hark !” exclaimed every one in the boat at the same mo- 
ment. “ The cry that came from yonder was neither fish 
nor fowl, or my name’s never Jack Rye,” said the cox- 
swain. “ Up with your helm then, my man, and let us 
make for it.” Accordingly we rowed as fast as possible 
towards the quarter alluded to. On reaching it we could, 
however, discern nothing ; and making the men toss up 
their oars, and keep strict silence, we again listened. 
Mournfully the wind passed over the rising billows in a 
sudden gust, turning its dark blue ridge into fiery foam, 
as we floated over its crest, and then sinking down into the 
trough were left becalmed ; when, in the silence of the 
wind thus dying away, was heard — the sullen drip, drip, 
from the oars, as each drop fell scattering over the surface, 
like shooting stars, the phosphorescent globules, and min- 
gled once more with the mass of waters, gloomily rolling 
on in their dark, unfathomed, boundless bed. Once, as the 
wind mournfully sung over the upraised blades, our fancy 
coined the low murmur into a human cry : slowly it died 

away. “ A lonesome night this there — there it is 

again,” was re-echoed by all. 

“ Rye,” said I, “ your voice is the strongest. Stand on 
one of the seats and hail him by name.” Accordingly at 
the topmost pitch of his voice the coxswain called three 
successive times ; but the silence of the grave truly seemed 
to have closed upon him who should have answered, and 
no reply could be distinguished. 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA, 


73 

r Poor fellow, it must be all over with him ! we had 
better steer to the ship.” 

“No, stay. Listen, listen ; was that the cry once 
more ?” 

" I think it was,” said the coxswain. 

“ So do I,” said another. 

“ I didn't hear it,” said a third. 

“ Nor I,” said the stroke-oar. 

I thought in the voice of the last speaker I could discover 
the tremblings of fear ; and having heard how superstitious 
seamen sometimes are, I determined not to let any nonsense 
of the kind weigh with me, if bv any possibility I could 
save the life of an unfortunate fellow- creature. 

“ Come, my fine fellows, give way once more, and I hope 
this time our search may be successful.” 

“ You're not going to cruise any more in this lone man- 
ner, are ye, sir ?” 

“ And why not, sir? You are not afraid of the Flying 
Dutchman, are you ?” 

“ Ah, sir, it’s all very well to laugh at that you ha’n’t a 
seen : I have ” 

“ Pooh, nonsense ! hold your tongue. Round with her 
head, coxswain. I shall not return to the ship till we have 
been down to the quarter from whence those cries pro- 
ceeded. What folly it would be if we were frightened away 
from a drowning man because he wishes us to hear him.” 

Sullenly they applied themselves to the oars. It was 
evident all were affected by the cheerless scene ; but I con- 
ceived this to be my line of duty, and was resolved not to 
flinch. “ Here he is at last,” I ejaculated in joyful surprise, 
grasping at some object that came floating by. But di- 
rectly that my hand reached it, the want of weight con- 
vinced me I was again unhappily in the wrong ; for it 
proved, on being lifted into the boat, to be nothing more 
than his painted straw hat. Inside it was stuffed a neck- 
handkerchief, and between that and the crown an old worn 

ICv. iV. 

We had scarcely turned out these contents when a noise 
in the water, close astern, attracted our attention. “ Well, 
then, this is he, at. any rate,” seeing what I imagined to be a 
human head coming towards me. “ Cheer up, my brave 


CAVENDISH ; OR, 


74 

fellow,” said I. “ Hold him out two oars to grasp before 
getting into the boat and I seized one for that purpose 
myself. Gradually the motion of swimming ceased ; for 
we could perceive the long dark body in the phosphorescent 
light. My oar had, however, no sooner touched the water 
than, instead of seeing the man stretch out his hand, as I 
expected, the head disappeared ; and at a distance of six 
feet, the water was dashed upon us in one large sheet, 
while rays of fire seemed darting in every direction over the 
ocean, concentrating into a focus round our boat, which 
received a tremendous shock on the keel, as if from some 
body gliding beneath. 

For the space of two minutes not a word was uttered ; 
we sank on our seats like figures turned to stone by the 
tremendous power of some voltaic battery. The livid coun- 
tenances, the distended eye-balls, denoting the intense 
horror which prevailed on each, — the wildly desolate scene 
around us, acting on feelings already overstrung, proved 
too much for our presence of mind. 

“ His fate at least is sealed ! What was that, Rye ?” 

“ What, sir ? why, a shark ; and that head, as you 
thought it, was his fin. There now, I wouldn't a’ held the 
oar as you did to that ere devil, in the shape of a fish, no, 
not for three years’ pay.” 

“ I say there, Master Rye, not so bold, if you please, 
with that ere gentleman’s name. There’s never no good 
comes of talking of him in that ere scofligate manner. 
Walls have ears, and why not waves ? If it hadn’t been 
done a* ready, we should a’ been trumped in this way. See 
there’s a pretty squall brewing.” 

“ Silence, sir, instantly silence. If I thought there were 
yet any chance of saving the man, you should row here till 
to-morrow morning in spite of all the infernal habitants that 
Satan numbers.” 

“ Ah, sir, you are but a very young sailor,” returned he 
of the stroke-oar. “We must row here till morning, 
whether or no, I’m thinking ; if Davy Jones doesn’t take us 
before, for I can’t see no ship whatsomever.” 

Alarmed at this, I jumped up, and cast my glance all 
round the horizon ; but in vain ! a chill, dread feeling or 
horror struck to my heart, as the possibility of our having 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


75 

lost the frigate became evident. Every one employed his 
eye-sight to the same purpose ; hut not the slightest line 
like a mast, nor the barest glimpse of aught like a sail, 
could be seen in relief against the dark sky. 

“ Now, then, who is it as laughs at the Flying Dutch- 
man ?” said the stroke-oar, with a malicious chuckling 
growl. " That shark, too, you may think he is gone. No, 
no, he's an old un, knows better than that ; there, there he 
swims.” 

I looked involuntarily ; and each muscle crept as I beheld 
the fin projecting from the surface, and the train of liquid 
fire that seemed to follow him. — That such a thing should 
be my sepulchre ! The wind had almost died away; a fitful 
moan was all that we occasionally heard ; the sea appeared 
to have sunk to rest, and “ slumbered like an unweaned 
child.” I gazed on all around, and then asked myself if 
life was really past. Hope answered, “ scarcely yet ;” fore- 
boding said, “ for ever 1” 

Rousing myself from this state of torpor, I turned to the 
last speaker, who was noted for being an insolent fellow, 
and known under the denomination of “ a sea-lawyer.” 

“ I consider your language, Fleming, as mutinous ; and 
if I hear you speak ten words more, you shall be reported 
to Captain Sawyer immediately on our arriving on board 
the Niobe.” 

“ Ah, there’s little fear of ” he was proceeding to 

speak, notwithstanding my order of silence, in an insolent 
tone, with a raised voice, when a flash was seen on the dis- 
tant horizon, and the report of a gun was heard. 

“ There she is,” joyfully burst forth from every lip ; the 
truth of which exclamation was further confirmed by seeing 
a sky-rocket mount up to the heavens, and then the intense 
glare of a blue light. Instantly cowering, Fleming sunk 
into himself ; and one or two others, who seemed inclined 
to follow his example, now laughed at their former fear ; 
while I admonished the sea-lawyer, that if he spoke another 
sentence before we arrived on board, he should be prepared 
to take the consequences. 

After pulling for half an hour in the direction of the light, 
we observed a second ascend astern, and shortly afterwards 
a third, a fourth, and fifth — and whichever route we took. 


76 CAVENDTSH ; OR, 

the last light always appeared to come from the quarter 
which we were leaving. The natural superstition of the 
seamen at last got such hold of them, that they lay on their 
oars, and refused to pull any longer ; having been set the 
example by the stroke-oar — Fleming. 

In this dilemma, knowing that silence could only breed a 
further mutiny, I had recourse to artifice, and made Rye 
“ spin them a yarn,” to divert their thoughts. Accordingly, 
his story having been as long and as droll as sailors* 
“yarns” generally are, restored their spirits, and by draw- 
ing their thoughts into a merrier mood, and occupying their 
attention for a long time, fully prepared them for falling 
asleep, which they were about to do, when we -were startled 
by a tremendous rushing noise astern, like the distant roar 
of a cataract. Looking to windward, we beheld the surface 
of the water one sheet of foam, torn and ploughed by the 
tempestuous hurricane passing over it. All beside was si- 
lence. 

Having directed them to hoist the sail a little, to give us 
head- way, and lower it immediately upon our being over- 
taken, we bounded forward like an Arab steed over its own 
wild waste, when just set free from imprisonment. 

“ Now, my men, lower the sail, quick !** and before the 
order was obeyed, we seemed lost in vapour ; the water 
flew on every side in one continuous mist, boiling and 
bubbling around us. The phosphorescent surface of the 
sea appeared a lake of fire, while the heavens above formed 
a dark, impenetrable pall. Each succeeding moment the 
mind felt surprised that its associate, the body, was still 
breathing. Speaking was out of the question ; you could 
not even see, through the mist of scattered water, the face 
of him who was sitting opposite. Momentarily did I ex- 
pect to see the boat fill ; while, as it was, the briny element, 
by continually pouring in, had mounted half-way to our 
knees. Still on we went, skimming over the crest of each 
succeeding wave, with almost unearthly rapidity. 

Ten minutes did this dreadful suspense last, when the 
floodgates of heaven seemed to open, and torrents were 
showered upon us. Instantly, as if by magic, the hurricane 
was hushed. A dark, dense cloud dissolved, and the lustrous 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. ' • 

moon poured forth a stream of light, changing the scene of 
chaos to one of startling grandeur. 

The men, haggard from fear, and pallid from fatigue, 
looked first at me, then at the refulgent spot in the over- 
cast firmament ; and knees that never yet had bowed, now 
involuntarily proffered homage at the throne of God. 

Having recommended my men to bale out the boat, huddle 
themselves together, make an awning of the sail, and go to 
sleep, if possible, I dropped my head on Rye’s shoulder, and 
soon set them the example. I had been dozing for two 
hours, when my dreams placed me on the edge of a tremen- 
dous precipice. Nothing was to be seen but the ocean lying 
far beneath. Suddenly I fancied that two men were coming 
behind, to push me off. I could neither escape nor turn to 
look. I was yet in this agony of suspense, when the Niobe 
appeared, and, overjoyed to behold her once more, I gradually 
awoke. I did not, however, move from my sleeping position, 
nor open my eyes : but I heard Fleming, whose conduct had 
been the most rebellious, say to another, “ Yes, Tom, you’ll 
catch as bad as I shall, if we ever reach the ship.” Here a 
dispute was carried on in a low murmur, when I heard the 
second voice say, “ I won’t help — you do as you like.” 
Slightly unclosing my eyes, I beheld Fleming open his 
clasp-knife, and, rising, stealthily approach nearer to me. 
Had I started up, I must have received a wound before Rye 
could spring to my assistance. If I remained inactive, I 
should soon be put out of the way. While yet debating, 
with the agony of death before my eyes, a flash broke 
through the grey light of morning, and a loud report came 
bellowing over the ocean. It was indeed the Niobe ; her 
masts, with a little canvass spread, were distinctly visible on 
the horizon. The knife had fallen from the villain’s hand ; 
instantly 1 had the mutineers bound, and in two hours and 

half we arrived alongside. 


78 


CAVENDISH ; OR, 


CHAPTER X. 

Henceforth my motto is — though you might guess it- — 

Unquam me nemo impune lacessit. 

It is of little consequence to us how, when, or where the 
two mutineers received their punishment. They were dealt 
with in England according to the laws. 

The perplexing circumstances of the lights were explained 
on hailing a French man-of-war who passed us. Two 
British vessels bound for England had been making night- 
signals to one another ; but the first sky-rocket had pro- 
ceeded from the Niobe. 

Within a few mornings after the occurrence described in 
the last chapter, Gibraltar's rock appeared in sight. We 
merely entered the harbour for four-and- twenty hours, to 
obtain fresh provisions ; but that stay, slight as it was, still 
afforded us an opportunity of seeing the ancient Pillar ot 
Hercules, the strongest fortress of the moderns. 

There is seldom seen a more beautiful effect than that 
produced by the evening and daylight guns ; when the vast 
mountain is shadowed in the first and last murky embraces 
of night, and the gleam of light shoots from the very sum- 
mit of “ the rock," glancing down its sides, striking on each 
craggy point, embattled fort, and stunted tree. Such, one 
might imagine, is the beautiful scene in Moore’s “Fire 
Worshippers," when first the flame darts upwards to the 
sky ; and Fancy almost waits to hear the wild shriek, or the 
immortal melodies of sea-born Peris, chanting. 

Farewell, then, farewell to thee, Araby’s daughter. 

Instead of this, your ear is stunned by the mortal thunder 
that, rumbling, rolls and echoes from Gebal-Tarif to Alge- 
siras, bidding you know the sun is set or is about to rise. 

Is there a more grand, rich landscape to be found than 
the simple view of the rock on a fine morning ? The sky, 
the sea, one ultra-marine transparent tint ; the grey and 
brown masses of the huge land before you, interspersed with 
wild, luxuriant geraniums up to the very summit. Here 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


79 

and there a planted piece of shrubbery, contrasted with a 
flat-roofed, snow-white house ; a sprinkling of forts ; and 
then the town, built with those distinct features that cha- 
racterize the cities of sultry climates ; while the scarcely 
ruffled bay is crowded with foreign -looking boats, all laden 
deeply with the fruit of their clime ; bunches of grapes, such 
as are never dreamt of in England, and to which those 
hanging over the doors of inns are small. 

Among those who went on shore, were Lady Carleton 
and daughter, accompanied, as usual, by their lap-dogs — 
for so D'Aquilar and myself were styled. In the course of 
our rambles to view the rarities of the place, we came in 
sight of a spot where two men were slung in ropes over a 
perpendicular height of some two hundred feet, in order to 
blast a portion of rock, necessary in preparing one of the 
stone galleries. Having fired the train, they made the sig- 
nal to be drawn up. From some mistake this was delayed ; 
but at last they began to ascend. Scarcely had they been 
elevated twenty yards when the explosion took place, and a 
splinter of the stone, driven past them with considerable 
force, struck the rope above. 

At first, little damage could be discovered ; but gradually, 
fibre after fibre gave way, while the poor wretches, whose 
lives depended on a few frail threads of hemp, were wildly 
gazing at the rupture above them. Frightened at the ac- 
cident, their fellow-labourers overhead endeavoured, by 
quickening their ascent, to avert the threatened danger. 

“ Quick, for mercy's sake, quick ! pull for your lives,” 
cried one of the suspended men, as the ragged part ap- 
proached the edge of the precipice. The other was silent, 
and in the act of raising his hands for mercy or thanks- 
giving, when the call of his companion was too well obeyed 
— the increased action of the cord could hardly have been 
observed, when the strands parted, and this existence of 
sorrow and suspense had passed from them for ever ! 

The ladies having fainted — of course, and we having 
brought them to — of course, instead of our walk being ended, 
as was proposed, by a dinner on shore, and a visit to the 
opera, we had to return on board. But the pleasure of the 
evening was not wholly lost to us, for Captain Sawyer find- 
ing he had some business to transact with the consul, sent 


80 CAVENDISH ; OR, 

the lap-dogs on board to dine with his fair guests in the 
cabin, while he remained in the town. 

That night I had the middle watch, and as every thing 
had arrived from the shore, we only waited “till morning 
blushed,” to make sail. Among the youngsters of the 
watch which relieved ours was Lord Pinchit, who, feeling 
that the morning air instigated some sacrifice to his gastro- 
nomical deity, proceeded to offer the same in the following 
manner : 

On board his Majesty’s ships and vessels of war, the 
chief amusement during the long night-watches consists of 
what is termed “ cutting out ;” by which the uninitiated are 
to understand, that it is considered fair play to purloin and 
devour whatever provisions can by roguery and dexterity be 
got at. “A good hand at cutting out” is a high charac- 
ter, and no thorough middy would ever think of being igno- 
rant of the art. 

As in all other robberies, the more daring the act, the 
more closely concealed, and the more valuable the effects 
stolen, more Laconico , the higher honour belongs to the 
perpetrator. For my part, I used to consider myself pos- 
sessed of no slight skill and knowledge in these matters ; 
but then I always kept my exploits where they were 
achieved — in the dark. No benefit can be derived from 
babbling in any matters. With the exception of this last 
organ of secretiveness, Pinchit, as you will suppose, reader, 
was in every way fitted for the night-work, and promised, 
hereafter, when years had added to his discretion, to shine 
forth with peculiar splendour. Some slight guess of his 
qualifications may be formed from the following dialogue 
between him and Lackit, a fellow-youngster in the same 
watch. 

“ I say, Lackit, I feel very peckish, this morning, don’t 
you ? ” 

“ Yes, Pinchit, I do. I can’t think how it is,” continued 
Lackit, opening his eyes a little, as he wandered half asleep 
in the grey of the morning, up and down the deck, with the 
other ; sometimes stumbling against him, sometimes stand- 
ing still for a doze. 

“Can’t think how it is?” replied Pinchit, “why I’m 
always hungry.” 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


•81 


“ Ah, so they say, marquis.” 

“ I wish you would not call me marquis. You know I 
hate to be called marquis. I was just going to say, suppose 
we go down, and cut out/' 

“ Very well, there’s no use in two going, you know.” 

“ Oh, no, no use in that — only makes more row. Well 
then, suppose, Lackit, you go down.” 

“ Come, come, Pinchit, you ought to go. I went last 
time, you know.” 

“ Oh, Lackit, you may as well go, you do it so — softly .” 

“ Ah, now, Pinchit, it’s too bad of you to ask me to go 
so often ; you’ve no more conscience than a purser’s stock- 
ing, which, the more you stuff, the more ’twill stretch. 
Besides, you’d better go ; you can manage matters better 
than me ; you can smell the prog out so well.” 

“ Ah, but I’m sure to get found out. I’m such an un- 
lucky fellow. Come, Lackit, you may as well go.” 

“ No, Pinchit, you put upon me too much ; I will not 
bear it. I’m not at all hungry myself ; I shan’t attempt it.” 

“ No, nor I am not very hungry either ; I shall let it 
alone.” And the two worthies immediately separated to get 
out of one another’s sight. 

Now Pinchit, who, as Lackit said, possessed a fine nose 
for scenting out these matters, had, in anticipation of the 
present moment, taken a strict account of all the eatables 
which arrived on board, and could have told the captain’s 
cook and gun-room steward how many reindeers’ tongues, 
Westphalian hams, and drums of sultanas they might each 
happen to possess ; so that if any of these gentry missed a 
preserve or custard pie more or less, you might hear them 
say to their underlings, “ Boy, go and ask Lord Pinchit if 
he ate my tart last night.” “Ay, av, sar;” answers the 
littlo negro. “ And, boy, tell my lord, if he happens to 
have any of it left in his chest, he’d better send it back, and 
then I can say they did me out of it in the galley.” * 

However, Pinchit’s cormorant eye had seen a fine bag of 
raisins into the starboard berth and as that was the one 


* “The galley,” — the place on the main-deck where all the meat 
is cooked; and as all the sailors can get there* the cooks must “keep 
their weather eye awake.” * 


Q 


CAVENDISH J OR, 


82 

he did not belong to, he determined to give it a visitation in 
the rounds of his diocese. In a quarter of an hour after his 
dialogue with Lackit, he disappeared from the quarter-deck, 
and, cautiously sneaking down the main hatchway, crawled 
towards the bag. In his way he happened to bump against 
D’Aquilar’s hammock, which was hanging rather low ; and 
D’Aquilar, not being well pleased, saluted the disturber of 
his rest with a kick of no slight force, demanding who was 
there. The only reply this elicited, was an attempt to get 
away ; but D’Aquilar held him fast, and proceeded with 
vigour in his calcitratory mode of interrogation, till, find- 
ing there was no end to this discipline, a half-squeaking 
voice, seemingly afraid to hear itself, answered, “ It’s only 
me, poor Pinchit ! ” 

“ You, Pinchit ? I beg your pardon, I thought it must 
have been one of the gun-room boys,” and, gathering the 
clothes round him, D’Aquilar pretended to snore. 

Very shortly afterwards he heard Pinchit creep on his 
hands and knees into the berth, where, in a minute or two, 
he was joined by some one else. 

“ Who’s there ?” exclaimed Pinchit in a fright. 

“ Ah, Pinchit, is that you ?” 

“ Holloa, Lackit, is that you?” 

“ I thought you weren’t going to cut out,” said both 
together. 

‘‘Oh, but — there, see now, what’s the use of our dis- 
agreeing ? here we are both, doubling the chance of being 
found out, while there was no necessity for more than one,” 
gravely observed Lackit, who, more wary than Pinchit, and 
afraid lest the cabin- door sentry might observe him, had 
come down vid the fore-hatchway, and crept twice the dis- 
tance under the men’s hammocks, thereby arriving later at 
the seat of warfare than my lord. 

“Well, Lackit, these raisins are very good, are they 
not?” (munch, munch, munch.) 

“ Oh, capital I I vote we fill our pockets, and depart, 
else they’ll miss us on the quarter-deck.” 

“ Oh,” replied Pinchit, in great distress, “ I left my 
jacket on the main-deck, to creep more easily, and these 
trowsers have no pockets. Do let me fill one of yours, 
Lackit.” 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 83 

Cf 0 no — you wouldn’t come down and cut out in your 
turn just now ; besides, I want to fill all mine.” 

" Why, how many have you got ?” 

“ Only four” 

° Now, I think you might as well help me, Lackit : what 
shall I do ?” 

“ Why, fill your cap, to be sure, man.” 

“ Lor ! that’s capital ! so I will. What a lot it will hold ! 
I wish my wit was as ready as yours.” 

“ Oh, so it will be by-and-bye ; I’ve been two years 
at it.” 

With a little more colloquy they set off, bearing, I sup- 
pose, three pounds of raisins between them. After being 
thus edified, D’Aquilar dropped asleep, and thought no more 
on the subject till next morning, when he was served with 
a writ of subpoena, to attend a court-martial in the starboard 
berth. Seeing that every one was flocking to this said 
place, I also went to ascertain “ the state of public feeling.” 
I found a midshipman seated at the door, with a drawn 
sword in his hand, and a cocked hat on his head, to enforce 
the order contained in a small placard posted up over the 
entrance, signifying that none but officers in full dress would 
be permitted to enter the court. Having turned back, and 
complied with this regulation, I found admission. All the 
midshipmen who could get from their duty were there, 
excepting Pinchit. 

Coldman was president ; John Roy, judge- advocate and 
counsel for the berth ; Stubbings, Hustle, xvr Scalpem, and 
the second master, the other members of the court ; and 
Collington, the provost-martial ; while the only one who 
was able to handle the prisoner’s cause, and of sufficient 
weight in the berth, and humanity to undertake it, was the 
Honourable F. Green. 

The president rose and addressed the court : 

“ Officers and Gentlemen ! 

“ The solemn occasion on which we have met together is 
for the unbiassed consideration of the justice contained in the 
charge now about to be preferred against Eatwell Clearall 
Pinchit, by courtesy Lord Clearall Pinchit, by right the 
Marquis de Gourmandise, by creation Baron Baggs, wherein 
he is set forth as having feloniouslv abstracted certain 

o 2 


84 CAVENDISH ; OR, 

raisins from this the starboard berth of his Maiestv’s ship 
Niobe. 

“ Much evidence has been carefully selected ; the merits 
or demerits of which you are now required calmly and 
deliberately to discuss, pronouncing judgment to the best 
of your abilities and belief, and the honour of the mess, and 
the king. 

“ Gentlemen, by virtue of my office now held under the 
seal of this berth, I have made the following appointments/’ 
Here he gave out a paper containing the officers and names 
already given. “ Mr. Collington, produce the prisoner/’ 
The provost-martial then retired for an instant, and re-ap- 
peared with my Lord Pinchit. 

The peony-rose (none other could boast so red a tint) 
which generally adorned his lordship’s cheek, had given 
place to the more mellow hue of an autumnal turnip ; but 
very little of his pride was subdued by fear. The indict- 
ment being read, he pleaded “not guilty,” which plea 
having been recorded, the judge- advocate rose, and learnedly 
laid the case before the court. It was, he observed, dejure, 
a burglary, but as some difficulty had arisen in procuring 
evidence to show that the doors were closed, the prosecutors 
were willing to pass over this atrocity in the case, and pro- 
ceed solely upon the charge of felony. Here he was inter- 
rupted by learned brother Green (who was habited in the 
chaplain’s gown, and a Welsh wig). 

“ Mr. President, I have to complain, sadly to complain, 
with regard to my very learned friend the judge-advocate, 
that his law is quite out at elbows. I have no less than 
four-and-twenty cases, to prove, that unless the prosecuting 
party think fit to go upon the ground ” 

“ But, learned brother Green, you forget,” interrupted 
the judge-advocate. And here they wrangled on for a little 
time most legally : however, the point of law had little to 
do with the trial, but Green gained it, in spite of a witty 
antagonist, and the cause proceeded. 

Mr. Ernest D’Aquilar being sworn on the hilt of his 
swQrd, honour bright, deposed that : — At five, a.m., being 
in his hammock, he felt somebody surreptitiously gliding 
beneath him : that he kicked said person violently, till he 
exclaimed, “ Its only me, poor Pinchit !” that he believed it 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


85 


was Lord Pinchit’s voice : that he recognised the pnsoner 
at the bar as the individual alluded to : and furthermore, if 
it had been the prisoner, witness believed he would still 
bear the marks on his person. At this, the assistant sur- 
geon, M‘Scalpem, and the provost-marshal, were deputed to 
examine his lordship. They reported sundry bruises to 
exist in the neighbourhood of his polar circle — that is, his 
neck and shoulders. Here very significant looks were ex- 
changed among those learned in the law, and the witness 
having deposed to his lordship’s entry of the berth, and 
subsequent conversation therein with some person to the 
court unknown, Mr. Alexander Thread was sworn, and gave 
the following evidence : 

“ Was in the same watch with the prisoner. About five 
o’clock observed him to be absent from the deck : on his 
return he retired to the taffrail, out of the way. Seeing 
him remain there some time, witness addressed him to 
know what might be his amusement. Prisoner, rather 
startled, turned round, his mouth was apparently full, and 
he quickly replied that he was meditating.” 

In reply to a question from the judge-advocate, — “ Never 
knew he was given to the use of the reasoning faculties. 
Witness at this moment felt something hit him on the face, 
and having picked the substance up, discovered it to be a 
raisin. Could not swear it proceeded from his lordship’s 
mouth, who denied that it had ; but alleged it was 
common at Gibraltar to rain figs ; a thing Lord Pinchit 
asserted to be not without precedent, quoting the old song. 

The clouds they look’d so brown, oh ! 

For then the skies 
Were beaf-steak pies, 

Which all came tumbling down, oh ! 

Witness then remarked to prisoner that meanness was a 
horrid vice, and left him to pursue his ‘ meditations,’ but 
made a communication to Mr. George Regent, another 
youngster in the same watch.” 

Mr. George Regent was then called. — “Witness, on 
hearing the communication of Mr. Thread, resolved that 
the prisoner should be watched. His lordship finding this, 
came and walked the deck : at seven o’clock Mr. Michael 
Queer made his appearance, when prisoner, together with 


$6 CAVENDISH , OR, 

the other officers of the watch, returned his salute of the 
deck, by touching their hats. Prisoner having inadvertently 
raised his a little too high, the quarter-deck was instantly 
strewed with raisins, which might be corroborated by the 
several witnesses who were now present.” 

A hearty laugh at the prisoner’s expense here followed, 
and the last evidence having been corroborated, the case 
for the prosecution closed, and the prisoner was called 
on for his defence. 

“ Nature, he regretted, had endowed him with neither the 
eloquence of a Tully, nor the philosophy of a Socrates, 
although adverse fate had visited him with the misfortunes 
of both, while in the justice of his cause he would yield to 
neither. He should not now detain them long : could only 
reiterate his protestations of innocence : and while confess- 
ing that appearances went against him, he was obliged to 
attribute the stubborn facts to the malignance of his stars. 
He thanked the court for their generosity in allowing him 
counsel, into whose able hands he confided the safe keeping 
of his honour and — his back.” 

The learned counsel rose, and moved the court to quash 
the proceedings. “ Quash the proceedings !” was echoed 
in dismay by the anticipating mids. “ Quash the proceed- 
ings !” said the judge -advocate, starting up ; “ really, my 
learned friend, I must request you to show some most 
sufficient cause for this ” 

" Of course I will,” said Green. “ It is this : I take 
my objection on the ground of privilege for the prisoner to 
be tried by his peers alone.” 

“ Peers alone !” resounded every one. 

“ Thou art a second Daniel come to judgment !” said his 
lordship, thinking he was to be a privileged sinner. Roy’s 
countenance fell considerably at this objection. The court 
was cleared. On re- admission, the judge- advocate said, 
“ The court could not recognise the privilege put forward, 
because the prisoner vras only Lord Pinchit by courtesy.” 

“ Very good,” said the learned counsel ; but I have a 
second objection. Your indictment, if it be correct, sets 
forth the prisoner as Baron Baggs by creation : if so, he is 
a peer, this showing, and thus may claim privilege.” 

This was another puzzle ; but it was at last decided that, 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


87 ' 

being created a baron by the midshipmen, they could not 
raise him above themselves, since the creating power must 
be above the created ; and they were therefore his peers. 

“ I admit that ,” replied Green, very coolly ; “ but, Mr. 
President, I have a third objection/ * 

“ A third ! a third !” exclaimed the others, aghast. 
“Yes, a third ! The prisoner is also set forth in your 
indictment as being Marquis de Gourmandise by right ; mind 
you, neither by courtesy nor creation, but by right. I shall 
not seek to overturn this point, as I have every reason to 
believe he is that hy right ; and, if so, you are not, on that 
view of the case, his peers, and consequently Cannot try 
him.” 

“The devil take your nous/” exclaimed Coldman, snap- 
pishly ; “ you’ve got him off at last. Who made out the 
indictment ? I vote we cobb him instead of the prisoner/' 
“ O no — no, you wont;” said the learned judge-advocate, 
who made it out himself. “ Clear the court.” 

On our re-admission the faces of all the judges bore an air 
of triumph, and so, especially, did that of the learned Roy, 
who thus addressed his brother Green : — 

“ In answer to your last objection, that the court do 
quash the proceedings, I have to remind you, that this is a 
court-martial, and not a court of sessions or assize, conse- 
quently you cannot here urge the common usages of law. 
The military law admits no such privilege as you mention. 
It is simply, but expressly, laid down by the act, that the 
trial must be by the culprit’s superior officers : the court at 
present is so composed. Your objection is therefore over- 
ruled ; but we shall be happy to hear any defence you may 
think proper to set up.” 

This was what Green expected. He therefore attacked 
their feelings very eloquently in mitigation of damages — to 
his client’s back. But in vain : they were deaf to the voice 
of the adder, even though a handsome Green one, and the 
following sentence was pronounced by the court : — 

“ Prisoner — The court having unanimously found you 
guilty of the crime with which you stand charged, it be- 
comes my painful duty to pronounce their sentence upon 
you ; namely, that you be submitted to the punishment of a 
cobbing, to consist of three dozen strokes, inflicted with an 


CAVENDISH ; OR, 


88 

instrument now in the possession of the provost-marshal, 
who is hereby directed to select four assistants, and put the 
sentence into execution. The court is broken up.” 

This was no sooner read, than with a tremendous rush the 
prisoner was seized, and, despite of wailing and lamentation, 
underwent the severest penalties of the law. I was sorry 
for “ poor Pinchit he was such an effeminately fair look- 
ing fellow, that the imagination had only to deck him out in 
petticoats, to fancy that he was a pretty woman : besides, I 
thought the consummation a tyrannical and disgusting 
scene, and so staid no longer than to see the court dissolved. 
As this was the first thing of the sort that had occurred on 
board, it was commemorated by some doggrel verses en- 
graved on the instrument of punishment, which was a piece 
of flat board, shaped like the section of a pear. 

It was sufficient to Pinchit to smart under the pain and 
disgrace inflicted without having that stimulating, irritant 
rhyme, rubbed into his wounds. He therefore resolved to 
obtain the cobbing-board, and burn it ; hoping thereby to 
obliterate its remembrance. But his lucky star was still 
clouded ; for, being caught in the fact, he was again tried, 
and sentenced to receive four dozen more ; while, worse 
than all, a new version of the ballad was written, and set to 
his favourite air of “ Di Piacer.” 

As these lines “ begat much talk, observation, and 
laughter,” I take leave to introduce them here, as nearly 
as I can recollect, notwithstanding their slight tendency to 
be Hudibrastic. 


THE NEW BALLAD OF 

“BAGGS’ COBBING.” 

Air — “ Di Piacer” 

Stranger, know this cobbing-board 
Was christen’d first upon a lord, 

Who, choosing, wholesome laws to trample, 
Received three dozen as a sample. 

The dozens gall’d his lordship sore, 

From trowsers’ point to inmost core ; 

So he, in thought, did daily turn it, 

Of how to get this board and burn it. 

Sad enterprise, with danger fraught ; 

Since here again my lord was caught ; 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


89 


And where three dozen bless’d him first, 
Four dozen more were paid. 

Poor Baggs, he swore it was a curs’t 
Shame that his back should be the first 
Was woo’d by such a maid ; 

Whose heart of oak so hard, indeed, 

Had almost caused his back to bleed ; 

Oh, what a cursed jade ! 

Grieve not, my dearest Baggfs, I say, 
O’er this ‘ my unpremeditated lay 
Nor deem that it is worse 
For thus assisting that bright name 
With this its only claim to fame, 
Immortalised in verse. 

Whilst we, the oldsters, merit robbing, 
Surname the christ’ning — Baggs’ Cobbing. 


CHAPTER XI. 

And, although the force very far exceeded ours, we cleared tfie 
decks for action, with all that spirit and alacrity for which our nation 
is so remarkable ; when, lo . Translation of G. Trouin. 

One of my favourite modes of killing time during the 
voyage, was by taking a book up into the top, of which 
Rye was captain, and spreading the to’gallant-studding-sail 
for a couch. I had thus the choice of four things — the print, 
the view, a siesta, (for I should say, that it was only after 
the dinner and school were over that I had the leisure 
allowed me,) or taking a lesson in knotting from Jack 
Barleycorn. 

Having observed Jack to be very sad since our affair in 
the boat, I cross-questioned him, and learnt that, before 
sailing, a gypsy had forewarned him he should never pass 
the straits again if he once ventured through, and that be- 
fore his death he should receive a warning ; which warning, 
he conceived, had been given to him by the loss of the 
man, and the various misfortunes which happened the night 
we were out in the boat ; more especially the shark, which 
he persisted could be nothing more or less than an envoy 
extraordinary, to announce his approaching dissolution. I 
tried to shake this belief in vain prognostications, but could 
not succeed. 


90 


CAVENDISH ; OR, 

“ As sure as I’m alive, sir/' said he, starting on his feet, 
“ if that a'nt a sail coming down on us, with a leading 
breeze, from the Barbary coast ! Deck ahoy 1 — sail on the 
weather quarter !" 

On learning this, the officer of the watch ordered the 
signal midshipman to the mast-head, to ascertain of what 
size and nation the stranger was. With the aid of several 
spy-glasses, and half a dozen pair of eyes, it was pronounced 
to be a squadron of four frigates, not English. 

Round flew the news ; and ere it reached the gun-room 
and berth, it had increased to a fleet of Algerines. They 
soon became visible to the naked eye from the quarter-deck ; 
and I hastened down to gain more certain information. 

“ Mr. Queer," said the captain, “ what do you take those 
vessels to be ?" 

“ Look almost like French, sir." 

“Yes, they do ; but their rigging and hulls are not in 
sufficient order for Frenchmen." 

“ They are neither Dutch nor Portuguese, evidently," 
said Michael. 

“ No ; I take it they are French hulls, manned by 
Algerines ; that is the direction they would be coming in. 
How was it they were not seen before ?" 

This last question was duly shuffled, of course ; and, 
after some further discussion, they all coincided with the 
captain’s view of the subject, who immediately ordered the 
ship to be cleared for action, while he hastened down to his 
cabin, to inform his fair fellow-passengers of this “ untoward 
event.” 

When he returned on deck, his face bore strong marks of 
emotion, as if yet uncertain what exact line of conduct to 
adopt. Long and wistfully he gazed at the frigates ; then, 
suddenly dashing his glass on the deck, muttered to himself, 
** What ! run away from them ? — run away from those tur- 

baned ragamuffins ? — ’gad, I’ll see them first !" and 

he gave orders to the master not to alter the course we 
were steering when they were first seen. “ No, no," he 
continued, “ as sure as my name’s Sawyer, if you come 
here, my fine fellows, you shall catch it;" striding up and 
down the quarter-deck with most martial paces. 

No sooner had the orders been given to clear for quar- 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


91 

ters, than every face wore the stamp of pleasure and gaiety: 
a stranger would have taken the proceedings to be rather 
the commencement of a ball than the overture to a scene of 
slaughter. 

All the men having been reported at their stations, and 
the ship ready for instant action, the captain came and 
stood near the taffrail ; and, I being one of his aides-de- 
camp, my station was of course near his person. After 
fixing his eyes for some time on the horizon, he resumed 
his pace, with an air as perplexed as ever ; then, pausing, he 
looked in my face, with an absent air, saying, “ Who would 
be a captain ?” 

“ A lieutenant, if he could, sir,” I answered. 

“ Um! a lieutenant — more than probable ; and yet I was 
beginning to think myself hardly dealt with.” 

“ So did I the other evening, till considering affairs a 
second time.” 

“ Very true, youngster. Now, if I only had these poor 
women safe out of my ship — oh, what a threshing I’d give 
those rascals !” and he shook his fist at the strangers, as 
much as to say, “ I’m tied by the leg. My name — honour 
— must fight — can’t run — and yet — indecision worse than 
all.” In an instant the struggle seemed at an end. — “Yes, 
that must be it. I am not expected to attack a force so 
much my superior : nor will I avoid them if they come up. 
I must do the best I can : if not, well and good. Cavendish, 
attend to the orders I am going to give you. Lady Carleton 
is now sitting in the gun-room with the chaplain. As soon 
as we are within firing distance, either you or D’Aquilar 
will conduct herself and daughter into the bread-room ; but, 
as they must not prevent you from partaking in the action, 
it will be better that you should relieve each other every 
quarter of an hour. Should the one on deck be shot or 
wounded, care will be taken to supply his place. But on 
no account are the ladies to be left alone for an instant. I 
need not charge you to pay them every attention. Should 
I be disposed of, in case of extremity, here are my pistols 
for their protection. You and D’Aquilar will draw lots for 
the commencement of the action. This is all that remains 
in my power to do for them. Mr. Queer, call all hands ; 
I wish to address a few sentences to them.” 


92 


CAVENDISH ; OR, 

Bv the time I had repeated my instructions to my fellow- 
sentinel, the ship’s company had assembled round the 
capstan, anxiously waiting what their commander had to 
say. 

The hour was nearly seven ; and the distant vessels 
could be barely distinguished, though sufficient light re- 
mained to display the rugged faces thronging the quarter- 
deck. Captain Sawyer stood on the skylight gratings, 
slightly elevated above the rest. Around him were piled 
shot of every description ; and cutlasses, muskets, pistols, 
bayonets, with all the other necessaries for legal murder, 
were to be seen in profusion. He is present to me still, as, 
with the energy and expression so characteristic of Robert 
Sawyer, he addressed his crew : — 

44 My brother sailors, — until the hour in which we met 
together on board the Niobe, the greatest part of us were 
utter strangers. The time that has since passed is far too 
short to give the acquaintance so necessary between an 
officer and his men. You may, therefore, feel surprised 
at my readiness to engage you with a force four times more 
numerous than yourselves. My confidence exists in this : 
I trust that, whoever you are, or whatever you are, you will 
never disgrace the profession you uphold as British seamen. 
It is to you that the whole world is indebted for freedom. 
English mariners, you are the only people that may boast 
of being the unconquered ! Why, then, should I hesitate 
to entrust once more to your keeping, that which you have 
created, defended, exalted, and adorned — the honour and 
the glory of your native isles ? 

44 The ties of life are dear, very dear ; and yet there is 
not one among you who does not acknowledge with me the 
weakness of those ties, compared with that emotion which 
the breast of every sailor acknowledges in the presence of 
a foe. All that I require of you, my men, is that which I 
perform myself. Let every energy be exerted ; so that he 
who survives may proudly boast his share in the action of 
to-night. 

44 To the brave men who are about to fall, I merely say, 

their countrv demands it, and theirs shall be a sacred bur al. 

* * 

This flag, beneath which those very enemies have been so 
often humbled,” (unfolding to the breeze with one hand 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


93 


the red cross of St. George, the white ensign, while with 
the other he pointed towards the Algerine squadron,) “ shall 
wave above us all, and consecrate the grave of him who 
dies.” 

It was with great impatience the seamen waited till the 
conclusion, when every hat was in the air ; and if old Ocean 
heard the three cheers that rolled sounding along his waves, 
he must have been convinced how little of human fear lurked 
in the composition of his sons. The effect was electrical ; 
for, though the interest of the subject had carried the speaker 
slightly beyond the capacity of some of his hearers, they 
yet understood the gesture and whole tenor of the speech 
sufficiently well to magnify what was hidden into something 
very grand. When, however, the flag of St. George was 
unrolled, their enthusiasm was displayed, by one and all 
springing forward to grasp its folds. They now returned 
to their quarters, and the “ shades of evening” gradually 
closed around us. The fighting lanterns being lit, the guns 
run in, and the ports closed, a pleasing sight was formed on 
the main- deck. 

Upon a powder-box was slumbering a little boy, of twelve 
years old, showing, by the motion of his head, that from 
his view at least, the battle scene had faded, while his seat 
contained combustibles sufficient to blow him into atoms. 
As the ship gradually rolled — first on one side, then on the 
other — the uncertain light was thrown now upon the brass 
lock of a cannon, next on the polished barrel of a pistol, and 
then on the glittering head of a boarding-pike, indistinctly 
showing, at the same time, a pile of large shot, upon whose 
congenial pillow might be seen the head of an old tar, his 
features proving that in sleep his thoughts were fighting 
still, as with a contraction of the brows, his hand involun- 
tarily glided to the pistol belted round him. Suddenly each 
sleeper starts. 

“ What sound was that ?” “ The soger striking eight 

bells,” some old veteran replies, and off they doze again. 
“ Stand to your guns,” is the captain’s order, vociferated 
down the hatchway : with the speed of lightning each is at 
his post, and ours, reader, is the quarter-deck. 

At half-past seven, a fog closing round the enemy shut 
them out from all observation, # while, for the first time, not 


94 


CAVENDISH ; OR, 

a star was to be seen. There was little wind, and our 
rate of sailing was not more than five knots an hour. So 
far the Fates seemed peaceably inclined ; when the captain 
descried with his night-glass, a large press of sail within 
three miles of us, but so completely enveloped in mist, that 
more minute observation was impossible. 

Any further advance in our present course would now 
have been a complete flight ; and, as the enemy evinced a 
determination to engage, we shortened sail, and prepared 
for crossing his bows, with a view to rake them fore and 
aft. It had fallen to D’Aquilar’s lot to remain below, and 
accordingly he repaired to his station, leaving me on deck* 

“ Main-deck, there,” said the captain, hailing. 

" Sir ?” 

“ Take especial care that not a port is opened, or a gun 
fired, till I give the order. Train two points abaft the beam, 
and make every one, except the captains of guns, lie 
down.” 

Silently and slowly the enemy approached, till within four 
hundred yards ; yet the density of the fog was such, that 
nothing more than a huge towering mass could be seen, 
looking very much as if one of the Egyptian pyramids had, 
in the extremity of Ibrahim Pacha’s distress, been sent to 
sea. We concluded it was a fine frigate ; nobly she loomed 
in the night haze ; but not a sound broke from her, nor 
did she in any way appear to notice us. 

“ Down with your ports on the main- deck, train half a 
point abaft the beam, and stand by to fire. Man the lar- 
board fore and main braces. Master, attend the conn. 
Port your helm ; brace up ;” and as the captain gave these 
orders, away flew the yards, and the ship’s head was laid 
nearer to the wind; so as to intercept the track of the 
frigate, advancing on our quarter. A few seconds more 
would have brought us into the position desired. The cap- 
tain was sitting in the weather-hammock-netting, watching 
for the crisis in which to pour forth our iron broadside, 
carrying death and destruction in its rear. Still all was 
mute, save the rippling water, and an occasional voice on 
our main- deck, giving some order. 

“ Now, then, are you ready on the main-deck? if so ” 

“ Ship, ahoy ! there,” said an English voice, hailing us 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 95 

from the supposed enemy, and interrupting the captain at 
the instant he was about to give the word “ Fire !" 

A mingled exclamation of horror and surprise ran round 
the ship at the narrow escape they had experienced. 
** What ship is that ?" returned our captain. 

“ His Majesty's ship Surinam, Captain Botherby. Who 
are you ?" 

“ His Majesty's ship Niobe, Captain Sawyer, straight 
from England." 

“ My compliments to Captain Sawyer, shall be happy to 
see him on board," said Captain Botherby. 

“ Mr. Queer, get my cabin bulk-heads up again, and se- 
cure the guns ; give me my boat's crew, and then pipe to 
grog." 

As he uttered this, the captain hastened down in person 
to assure the bread-room refugees that our action had, 
like all others, ended in smoke * and considering the exact 
relation of affairs, I was not sorry at its harmless termina- 
tion. 

On Captain Sawyer’s return we learnt that the Algerine 
squadron had been seen steering into port half an hour before 
we met; and to account for our having escaped observation on 
board the Surinam, the lieutenant of the watch was asleep, 
— the midshipmen were skulking, — the look-outs were 
drunk, — the man at the helm foolish, — and the old quarter- 
master blind. 


CHAPTER XII. 

Yet hold I off; women are angels, wooing ; 

Things won are done, joy’s soul lies in the doing ; 

That she beloved knows nought that knows not this, 

Men prize the thing ungained more than it is. 

* * * * * 

Therefore this maxim out of love I teach, 

Achievement is command ; ungained, beseech : 

Then though my heart’s content firm love doth bear, 

Nothing of that shall from .my -eyes appear. 

Troilus and Cressida. 

Since our departure from Gibraltar, iEolus had shown the 
gallantry that was expected from him, and the weather con- 


96 


CAVENDISH ; OR, 


tinued so gentle, that the cabin passengers felt no inconve- 
nience from it. Night after night, therefore, the following 
party were assembled in the fore-cabin. The captain and 
her ladyship, who generally played at ecartd ; or while she 
turned over his portfolios of prints, he read passages from 
various authors, in which he excelled, and being thoroughly 
acquainted with Italian and French, the literature of those 
countries frequently formed the amusement and discussion 
of the evening. At another table the chess-board afforded 
amusement to Letitia, D’Aquilar and myself. As my play 
was inferior to his, he generally became Letitia’s opponent, 
and I found it more congenial to my feelings to assist her, 
for D’Aquilar was of that happy disposition which is often 
impetuous, but never ill-natured. A little persuasion would 
have moulded him into any thing. 

Often while sitting by Letitia’s side, gazing on her beau- 
tiful features, as though I could never behold them suffici- 
ently to carry away their remembrance, did I observe that 
soft blue eye steal round towards me, as if to see whether I 
was looking at her, and then hastily retreating to the chess- 
board, or, fixing on D’Aquilar’s face, her own would be 
mantled with a crimson glory, such as day bequeaths when 
dying to the sky. Involuntarily would my pulse race on at 
double speed ; and while mentally saying, “ I am ashamed 
to be so rude,” my eyes were raised to feast once more : — 

Who can view the ripen’d rose nor seek 
To wear it? who behold 

The smoothness and the sheen of beauty’s cheek, 

Nor feel the heart can never all grow cold ? 

Full well I knew what ailed my beating heart, if accident 
brought my hand into contact with hers. The emotion 
which chained my tongue in silence when it would have 
spoken to her, — the feeling that led me to avoid showing 
her the most minute attention if any one was near to see, — 
the nameless fetter that kept me at her side, — all these were 
known and fully understood. 

While my watch-mates soundly dozed away, I walked the 
deck in commune with myself, feeling that I deeply loved 
her, and joying in the thought. Many a mast-heading, 
many a scrape did that fair face bring to me ; and while I 
should have been attending to my duty, my thoughts were 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


97 

rambling through a fancied elysium with herself, as goddess 
of my idolatry. Clear as all this appeared to me, much was I 
puzzled to assign reasons for her conduct ; her hurried and 
confused manner ; the restless wandering of her eye ; the 
strange anxiety by which she seemed beset, if thrown into 
contact with myself; the ease she appeared to feel in 
D’Aquilar’s society, and the preference she gave to it, at 
last led me to believe there was an attachment between her 
and D’Aquilar; and that having observed my feelings 
towards her, she took this mode of showing me I should sue 
in vain. 

From the time this conviction took possession of mv 
mind, we mutually avoided one another ; and when accident 
again threw us together, both were more embarrassed than 
before. 

It so happened one evening, that D’Aquilar was indis- 
posed, and [took his place as Letitia’s opponent. How the 
game commenced 1 was almost ignorant, and how it pro- 
ceeded I knew still less. Scarcely six words had passed 
between us. I had settled in my own mind, that the best 
thing for me would be to get shot at Algiers, (the reader 
will recollect that we were bearing the declaration of war 
with that state to the British Admiral,) and finish my love, 
life, and reputation in "‘the London Gazette Extraordinary/’ 

As I thought thus. Lady Carleton said, “ I cannot pro- 
nounce w r hat that game may be to the players ; but to those 
who are looking over it, no amusement can be greater. I 
have been observing you for the last ten minutes.” 

“ What a horrible espionage !” thought I, and my face 
appeared to be scorching. 

“ In the first place, Mr. Cavendish, your king has been 
in check for the last five moves ; while you, Letitia, have 
taken your own queen with your knight, and your last move 
was a pawn two squares backward — but do not let me inter- 
rupt you ; novelty is of course the thing desired.” 

“ At any rate Cavendish pays every respect to your lady- 
ship’s rebuke,” said the captain; “he appears most pain- 
fully ashamed.” 

This was very mischievous in him, to draw down atten- 
tion on my confusion ; but the honourable captain was very 

H 


£58 CAVENDISH ; OR, 

fond sometimes of a little badinage , and if you. only knew 
where to tickle him, you might often avert a storm. 

Much to my relief in this dilemma, Pinchit’s friend, the 
steward, entered preparatory to supper ; and that evening 
passed like many others of delight, — where ? — over the hills 
of time, to join the “ ages vanished ere the flood.” 

It was during one of our night-watches, when D’Aquilar 
and myself were mournfully staggering along the deck, 
half hushed in sleep, but more awake to woe, that he made 
some remark to me respecting the tendency which the gene- 
rality of mankind have to conceal all affairs of the heart, — 
the noblest passion in existence, inasmuch as it is the secret 
spring of all others, to keep every thing relative to love as 
deeply hidden as though it were a crime. Yet when love 
becomes a crime, and degenerates into intrigue and de- 
bauchery, how often we see men eager to expose their 
folly to the world, even though it should bring to disgrace 
the object for which they profess to feel an affection. 

“ Cavendish, long as we have been friends, I believe I 
never mentioned that Letitia Carleton and myself are in a 
manner betrothed ?” 

Betrothed ! did I hear that word aright, betrothed ! then 
even hope had flown from me. I leant against the mizen 
mast, near which we were standing, and faintly asked him 
to explain. He saw not the contending passions which 
struggled w T ithin me ; and, thinking 1 leant there from 
drowsiness, he motioned me to sit down with him on a coil 
of rope, and proceeded to comply with my request. 

“ You already know,” resumed he, “ that Lady Carle- 
ton’s estate and my father’s adjoin one another; and in 
consequence of this, Mr. Carleton became very anxious to 
purchase some land from my father, that would enable him 
to make a considerable improvement in one of his estates 
where it was situated. On the other hand, my father was 
very willing to buy the whole of Mr. Carleton’s estate alluded 
to, but wished not to part with one jot of his own ground. 
Thus it went on, both willing to become purchaser, neither 
to sell. Having wrangled for some years, and finding they 
had no other children than ourselves, the idea naturally 
suggested itself to unite us, and bv this union to convert 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


Od 

the estates into one. The proposal was made, Mr. Carleton 
was delighted with it, and I may say it was agreed on ; but 
her ladyship being rather opposed to it as risking her 
daughter’s happiness, I have seen nothing of them, compa- 
ratively speaking, since Letitia’s father died : not did I 
intend to think of it any further ; but chance having again 
thrown us together, how could I help loving her, eh ?” 

“ Impossible,” I replied ; “ but have you ever spoken of 
love to her ?” 

“ Never, though I intend to do so. This sea-life is very 
little to my taste. I begin to think with Johnson, that no 
man would go to sea who could get drowned in a horse- 
pond. What do I want with fame, that I should keep 
these long night-watches for a dozen years ? I neither 
want money nor rank ; I shall be a baronet at my father’s 
death. I want nothing more at present ; and so I think I 
shall leave the service, and get Letitia Carleton to run oft* 
with me.” 

“ D’Aquilar, are you mad ?” 

“ Yes, a little — what of that? we are all apt to get a 
little cracked at times ; but, taking the joke out of the 
question, promise me, will you, to assist my plans, provided 
that they are not absolutely wrong ?” 

I paused. Even supposing I do not give my word, 
thought I, of what advantage will that be ? It is evident 
there is an affection subsisting between them, and honour 
forbids my trying to supplant one who has placed his confi- 
dence in me, supposing that it were not so. ‘‘Yes, 
D’Aquilar,” I said to him, “ I do promise, that to any plan 
which is not unreasonable I will give my assistance.” 

“ Thank you, Cavendish, I expected nothing less from 
our friendship.” 

“ But remember, D’Aquilar, I will assist in no project 
that is not undertaken with her sanction. When that is 
given, command me — I am yours.” 

Eight bells sounded, and we departed to call the officers 
of the next watch. 

Not more surprisingly varied are the changes of a magic- 
lantern than the shades and colours of the human existence. 
To-day every thing appears in the warm and glowing tint 
that Turner gives his landscapes. To-morrow the same scene 


100 


CAVENDTSH *, OR, 


shall wear a livery as dim, as lowering, as a Scotch storm 
by Nasmyth. Philosophers, whence is this ? can it be the 
objects which are changed ? Oh, no ! it is but another 
anomaly of that inscrutable mystery, the heart of man. 

I had long known Letitia Carleton in town, and had 
admired her much, perhaps loved her slightly ; but it was 
not till now, when a barrier was placed between us, that I 
experienced that intense passion which made my days a tor- 
ment. My lot, thought I, is cast : since I may not have 
affection, let me live alone — for fame. 

With this may-be empty resolve, I lifted my eyes from 
the deck, and beheld the steep inaccessible, but still beautiful 
island of Calypso.* Oh, thought I, if that island were only 
mine, with the gift of immortality and Letitia Carleton ! — 
but it cannot be. 

“ Mr. Cavendish, the first-lieutenant wishes to speak with 
you under the half-deck.” 

“Ay, ay, quarter-master; say I’ll be there instantly.” 
No, Letitia, I mentally ejaculated, it cannot be so. What 
am I! to reverse the laws of nature t Well, then, I even 
wish it was Calypso, wish it were any one, provided she 
were fair and beautiful, and would let me love her heart and 
soul, and return the compliment. But alas ! past are the 
days of the dear goddess, whose only chains were those of 
pleasure. Would that my name were Telemachus ! no, he 
was a fool, would that my name were 

“ Mr. Cavendish !” bawled Michael Queer in my ear, a 
worthy of more modern date, whose sway I had forgotten. 
“ Why the devil, sir, don’t you come to me when you are 
sent for, eh ?” 

‘‘I,— I.— I,—” 

“ Why, you are dreaming, sir ; go to the mast-head and 
dream, or tumble off if you like, for spite.” 

“ No, sir, I thank you,” was my reply, departing like a 
true exile, with the consolation that solitude would save me 
from interruption ; at the mast-head I might create fifty 
islands, and five thousand goddesses at pleasure. 


* Pentellaria answers most closely to the description of the island of 
' , - ,1 ypso. Byron says Goza; but the latter is not sufficiently steep, 
and has little or no wood. 


TttK PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


0! 


CHAPTER XIII. 

And Malta— now that thou hast got us — 

Thou little military hot-house, 

I’ll not offend with words uncivil, 

And rudely wish thee at the devil, 

But only gaze from out my casement, 

And ask “for what is such a place meant?” Byron. 

It was on a Friday morning that we arrived off the island 
of Malta. As is generally the case, we were prevented 
from reaching the harbour during the day by a calm ; but 
the evening breeze springing up carried us in. The first 
entrance into the harbour is very pleasing. The many- 
toned bells that summon its Catholic inhabitants to prayer , 
the glare of light from La Valetta ; the familiar hum of 
man that strikes joyfully upon the ear after a long voyage ; 
the singular costume of the boatmen, and their wild, uncul- 
tivated song, most probably introduced by the Knights from 
Rhodes and Venice, all exhilarate the senses by their variety; 
while the soft and luxurious climate, the moon silvering the 
scarcely ruffled waves, and throwing into deep shadow the 
bold gigantic fortresses, present objects of admiration that 
might almost persuade the beholder he has arrived in a 
magic region. And is it not so ? Is not this the isle of 
valour and romance ? Is not this the once famed nursery 
of chivalry ? Does not every stone breathe forth the spirit 
of an age long flown ? Do we not gaze upon the secluded 
cloisters, where military heroes gave themselves up to a 
life of celibacy ? Nay, nay, imagination stay thy course. 
Instead of this rapture, you merely gaze upon barren, impreg- 
nable Malta, a military garrison, and, consequently, a horrid 
hole for scandal ; where the red coats are so puffed up with 
pride, that they hardly are aware whether they walk on their 
heads or their heels ; and the women, dear souls ! are so 
broiled, that they scarcely know how to bear themselves. 
As for celibacy — there's very little of that in the island ; 
and these same knights, who came here to shut themselves 
up in such an ascetic manner, were among the most riotous 
dogs on the face of our earth. But, certes, Malta, I think 


102 


CAVENDISH ; OR, 

thou art a very pleasant place, and my steps shall yet find 
thee once more — if they can. 

When morning broke, the coup d’ceil that presented itself 
was sadly at variance with the feelings produced by the 
beauty of the evening’s first view. Four human skeletons 
hanging in chains for piracy, form rather a startling fore- 
ground. There is, however, something delightful in the 
first glance of La Valetta by the clear bright daylight, re- 
flected from the white rocks on the blue transparent bosom 
of the bay, already swarming with that peculiarly built boat 
common to this place ; some bearing the various fruits of 
the clime and season ; others having a cargo of living goats 
on board, to be milked alongside the ship for the breakfasts 
of the officers and crew. Let the eye wander where it will, 
a scene of enchantment surrounds it ; batteries ranking 
among the most impregnable in Europe ; a town seldom 
equalled — never surpassed, for the picturesque originality of 
its beauty ; a climate warm, but untainted by disease ; har- 
bours beautiful and capacious, and water of surpassing clear- 
ness ; a foreign and agreeable costume, and a cloudless sky 
— with all the fruits of Sicily transported by a twenty -four 
hours’ sail — such are among the various advantages that ap- 
peal to the senses on a first arrival at Malta. 

As I had letters of introduction to the governor, I took 
an early opportunity of delivering them. He happened to 
be staying at Florianne, a place styled by the governors their 
country residence — lucus a non lucendo. Country, in Malta ! 
where all the soil has to be brought from Sicily ! At that 
time not a potato was grown on the island. But so they 
chose to style it. His excellency was known under the ap- 
pellation of King Tom. Let the reader picture to himself 
a thick, exceedingly corpulent and bloated man, of a middle 
height, whose manners and ideas, vulgar in the extreme, found 
utterance in the broadest Scotch, and he will immediately 
have in his mind’s eye the similitude of the governor 
of the island of Malta, and its dependencies, Lord 
High Commissioner of the Ionian Republic, and represent- 
ative of his Majesty, King of Great Britain. I presented 
my letters : he read them ; and patting me on the back, 

said, “ So, lad, ye cam fra my auld freend Well, and 

I’m vera glad to see ye ; ye’re just in parritch time ; we 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


103 

gie a dinner to-day to some of the folk frae Valette ; as ye’re 
a Sailor, sir, ye’ll no feel the want o’ ceremony, but sit ye 
doon with us at once. Ye’re welcome, sir, — ye’re vera 
welcome. Rat,” addressing his aide-de-camp, Captain Rat, 
“ wha asked thot dommed fellow here to dinner ?” pointing 
to a gentleman who was walking up the avenue within hear- 
ing, named Reig. 

“ You did yourself, sir.” 

“ It’s a lee ; I didn’t.” 

“ How do you do, sir ?” said Mr. Reig, appearing not to 
have heard what had passed. “ I have come out to do 
myself the pleasure of dining with you, according to your 
invitation.” 

" Do ? I do vera weel, and ye know it and his excel- 
lency, thrusting his hands under his coat tails, marched 
away. 

Dinner was served up ; the principal part of the civil 
officers belonging to the island were present, and the whole 
of his excellency’s military staff. The flow of conversation 
was about equal to that of some tiny brook which the sun 
has almost dried in its bed ; tedious, puny, and slow, almost 
to stagnation. 

Nothing could be more disgusting than the dinner, ex- 
cept the giver, who was mean, tyrannical, course, vulgar, 
and imperious by turns. By great ingenuity, certainly, 
there seemed no emotion of his own mind, however low 
and contemptible, but some creature expressly formed to 
pander to it, was by him selected for this edifying office. 
Of the conversation that did occur at dinner, let us take the 
following. 

“ May I trouble your excellency for some of that ragout ?” 
said a lady sitting near the governor. 

“ Nae trouble at a’, ma’am ; help yoursel and the polite 
governor pushed the side-dish towards her. 

" Pray, can your excellency inform me,” said Mr. Reig, 
"what fortune Sir Thomas P had with lady C .” 

“ Curse yere saul, sir ! d’ye tak* me for a pettifogging 

village attorney, that ye presume to put yere d tuth- 

peck quastions to me ?” 

“ He cannot mean to wrong the legal profession so 
greatly,” said some voice near the middle of the table, in a 


iU'J 


CAVENDISH ; OR, 

tone loud enough to reach the governor’s ear, but suffi- 
ciently low to allow of his taking no notice of it. “ Pleasure 
of a glass of wine, your excellency,” said the same voice, in 
a louder key. 

“ Pleasure !” grunted the governor, whispering aside, 

" I wish the deil had the fellow ! Rat, wha may ye be 
glibbing aboon there, sae freely ?” 

“ Orthography, sir/’ 

“ And what’s orthography ?” demanded the general ! ! 

Although not very prepossessing in person, the governor 9 
had a great penchant for the ladies in his own peculiar way ; 
and, having been introduced to Lady Carleton, he conceived 
so violent a regard for her, that he determined on escorting 
her to Naples in the Vengeance, and, in pity to her isolated 
situation, Captain Sawyer allowed D’Aquilar and myself to 
do the same. 

We accordingly repaired on board the flag-ship, and on 
entering the main-deck to report ourselves to the command- 
ing officer, we beheld the first lieutenant, Mr. Jemmy, 
holding in his hand the manuscript of a play entitled “ The 
First Consul,” part of which he was spouting with no little 
gesticulation. 

“ Scene the second, act the first, enter Buonaparte,” 
folding his arms like that individual — 

“ Now am I master of the world, but one ; — 

And Fate, beneath whose banner I have conquer’d, 

Say what the deed — 

Very fine that, eh ?” addressing an old mate near him, 
who was busilv employed getting some guns out of the 
hold. 

“’Pon my soul, Mr. Jemmy, can’t attend to your play 
now,” said the old officer, pushing the MS. back into the 
author’s face. “ I suppose, sir, you know it’s war with 
Algiers ? Some one must get the duty done.” 

“ Duty done, sir ? don’t talk to me of duty, sir. Am I 
not first-lieutenant ot the ship ? — Pooh ! the Algerines can 
wait till to-morrow to be thrashed — never get my play 
acted at that rate ; here, my men, fall in ; now you’re Na- 
poleon Buonaparte, and you, Thompson, are Count Talley- 
rand ; you, Davey, are Cambaceres : you, Mr. Higgins, are 
Fouche; mind, you, Gorman, are Sieves — and recollect. 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


105 

yotfre to repeat the words after me, all of you. There, 
drop that gun-tackle ; come away ; come here. I’ll make 
heroes of the whole of you. What character comes next ? 
Let me see — oh ! Josephine — ah ! send the black cook aft, 
here — capital ! capital ! that’ll just do. Stay, though, 
stay — black cook can’t speak English ; no, nor French 
neither, the old rascal ! What shall I do ? what shall I do 
with this confounded Josephine ? — oh ! why did I bring 
her on at all ? What shall I do with her ? Got her here ; 
all her parts spoilt — spoilt ” 

In the midst of this dilemma, while all the seamen were 
giggling and gaping around him, he was accosted by two 
midshipmen, one of whom, touching his hat, said, 44 Come 
on board, sir.” 

“Come on board! come on board!” repeated Mr. 
Jemmy, trying to recollect himself; 44 what’s come on 
board ? Let me see ; come on board — oh ! I have it — 
come here, young man the mid approached. 44 How 
long have you been on shore ?” 

44 Four days.” 

44 Who gave you leave ? — you went without leave.” 

44 O, no ! I did not, sir, — you gave me leave. Don’t 
you recollect it, sir ? you were standing on the starboard 
gangway.” 

44 Ah ! well, I suppose I did. How long have you been 
on shore ?” addressing the other. 

4 ' A fortnight, sir.” 

44 Who gave you leave ?” 

44 You did, sir.” 

44 No such thing, sir.” 

4 O, yes, you did, Mr. Jemmy ; you were showing some 
ladies round the ship, in the gunner’s store-room.” 

44 I have you, sir ; I have you, sir. I was in the sick- 
list at the time : go to the mast-head.” 

44 Very well, sir ; but ” replied the mid, taking some- 

thing from his pocket as he moved a step. 

44 Don’t but me, sir ; go to the mast-head.” 

44 Ay, ay, sir — edition of Shakspeare.” 

44 Eh ? eh ? eh ? What’s that you say ? ’dition of Shak- 
speare? ’dition ! where? where? where?” 

44 Oh ! here it is, sir ; very valuable old edition ; beau- 


106 cavendish; or, 

tiful glossary ; only it has stuck in my pocket. I have not 
time to get it out now, sir ; but you shall have it when I 
come down from the mast-head/’ 

“ Oh ! oh ! never mind the mast-head ; never mind 
that ; give it me, give it me.” The mid produced it in- 
stantly. 

“ Ah ! ah ! ah !” continued the first-lieutenant, turning 
it over : " capital edition ; best edition — where d’ye get it, 
eh ?” 

" I picked it up, sir, on shore, at an old book-stall.” 

“ Good ! good ! good ! D’ye give it me ? give it me ? 
never mind the mast-head, you know.” 

“ O yes, sir ; I bought it on purpose to present to you.” 

“ Capital fellow ! capital fellow ! Now you may go 
ashore for a week more, if you like.” 

“ Thank you, sir, — thank you, sir,” said the mid, scam- 
pering off ; and in another second he left the ship for the 
shore again, while Mr. Jemmy, forgetting the men to whom 
he had given each a part in his play, went off to examine 
his prize. The mate had long since departed, to enjoy a 
glass of grog, and the seamen were looking about for some 
place to take a caulk,* when the captain’s voice was heard 
on the main-deck ; “ Mr. Jemmy ! Mr. Jemmy !” 

“ Sir — sir — sir !” cried he, starting up against his supe- 
rior, his hand occupied with Shakspeare’s volume and 
his MS. 

“ Take care, Mr. Jemmy,” said the captain ; “ I bring 
you off orders from the admiral to unmoor, and get ready 
for sea as soon as possible.” 

“ O yes ; certainly, sir,” answered the first-lieutenant ; 
“ O yes, certainly,” rubbing his hands after stuffing their 
contents into his capacious pockets with great glee, as if he 
perfectly understood what ought to be done. “ Soon un- 
moor sir ; soon unmoor, sir ; plenty of hands : bring-to 
both messengers at once ; upper and lower- deck capstans, 
and heave in the two cables together.” 

“ Mr. Jemmy ! Mr. Jemmy !” reiterated the captain, 
aghast. 

“ Sir !” replied the first-lieutenant, quite unconscious 
that he had proposed anything out of the way. 

* “ Caulk,” — a nap 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 107 

“ Do you know, sir, what you have been talking about ?” 

“ Certainly — yes — I — believe,” opening his eyes to see 
what was alluded to ; when his mind returning to the sub- 
ject which engrossed all his thoughts, he threw forth his 
arms in a theatrical manner, and commenced : — 

Now am I master 

“ Master !” exclaimed the captain angrily ; “ pack of 
nonsense, Mr. Jemmy !” (not understanding what was 
meant,) “ surely we can unmoor a ship without asking the 
master. Have you yet to learn, that by heaving on two 
cables at once (even supposing that you could do so), you 
must do one of three things ? break your anchors, snap 
your cables, or tear the ship’s bows asunder ? No, sir, no ; 
heave on your best bower, veer away the small, — I’ll see to 
it myself.” 

“ Oh, oh, sir !” replied Jemmy, recovering himself ; “ I 
recollect all about it. I’ll get it done, sir ; don’t trouble 
yourself ; go on shore. — I’ll get it done. Boastwain’s mate, 
pipe all hands ; unmoor ship and knocking half a dozen 
men down, in his efforts to appear smart, he succeeded in 
getting the messenger* passed, and in escaping the sur- 
veillance of the captain, who having caught sight of the 
master, had given his instructions to the latter officer, and 
left the ship. “ There, my men,” said Jemmy, “ set to 
it — heave heartily with a will ; — heave oh — heave ;” at the 
same time clapping his hands to encourage them. And 
heave they did. The purchase was used, and the messenger 
stranded — cut, spliced, — and stranded again ; when the 
boatswain, having by accident looked over the bows, dis- 
covered that there was an elbow in the hawse ! ! 

At length, with the help of a few junior officers, this 
prince of first-lieutenants got his ship ready for sea ; and if, 
reader, you should esteem him to be somewhat eccentric in 
his mode of doing so, pray take into consideration the fact 
of his having been one of the detenus at Verdun; a good 
soul as ever breathed, but not quite suited for a first- 
lieutenant. 

The governor’s barge having brought on board Lady 
Carleton and daughter, the governor, admiral, and captain, 

* A sort of cable for heaving up the anchor. 


108 cavendish; or, 

the Vengeance finally weighed her anchor, and made sail 
for Naples. 

The hour was half- past two, and as the doctor * had not 
ceased blowing, we were compelled to beat out. The prin- 
cipal inhabitants of the island were standing on the light- 
house to view our departure, while the before-mentioned 
grandees were seated on the poop, admiring the scene — the 
governor paying very assiduous court to her ladyship, and 
the flag-captain flirting with her daughter. 

When we were sufficiently near the shore, the first-lieu- 
tenant proceeded to put her about. The helm was down, 
and he had given the order, “ Rise tacks and sheets,” when 
a little middy came running up the hatchway, and whispered 
something in his ear. Without casting a single glance at 
the sails, already flapping in the wind, down ran the first- 
lieutenant ; and, as every one was gazing at the shore, his 
absence was not perceived. 

In a few seconds the ship, having come head to wind, 
hinted, by the rate at which she was going astern, some in- 
tention of making her bed on the rocks. The admiral, per- 
ceiving this, looked round for his functionary in vain. He 
inquired of the captain : of course the latter was far better 
employed than in taking an account either of the ship or of 
Mr. Jemmy ; but not liking this interruption, he started up, 
loudly vociferating the officer’s name. 

“ Where’s Mr. Jemmy ? where’s the first-lieutenant ?” 

“ Eh, eh, eh ? who calls ? what’s the matter ? Here am 
I,” answered the absentee, appearing at the hatchway, 
gasping for breath. 

“ Where have you been, Mr. Jemmy ?” 

“ Oh, sir, merely stepped down to see the sow litter. 
Pretty little things ! Main-top sail haul . Curious fact, that, 
sir, in natural history ; twenty-five young ones ! Fore- 
tack — head bow lines haul well taut — prettier pigs, sir, never 
saw in my life — there’s one spotted exactly like my fifth 
spaniel Flora. — Of all haul ! there my boys, jump about, 
jump about, coil down your ropes ; no, never mind, go 
about again presently.” 

“ Mad, positively mad !” said Captain Barrard, shrugging 

* In nearly all sultry climates the sea-breeze sets in about noon, 
and from being such a preservative of health, is called “ the doctor. ” 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


109 


up his shoulders, and returning to renew his conversation. 
But here he was disappointed. Whether it had proved 
uninteresting, or whether she had seen the anxious glances 
directed towards her, I know not ; but while the captain 
was looking for his proxy, Letitia had found her way into 
the admiral’s cabin, whither the captain could not follow till 
the watch was called. 

*' Captain Barrard, is not that a curious fact ?” said 
Jemmy, taking in his hand the frill of the captain’s shirt to 
arrest his attention. 

" What, sir ?” 

•* No less than twenty-five pigs.” 

*• Oh, devil take the pigs ! You’ve spoilt the most in- 
teresting tdte a tdte that chance has thrown in my way for 
the last twelve months and so saying he wrested himself 
from the first-lieutenant’s grasp at the expense of his 
frill. 

“ Bdte /” muttered Jemmy ; “ fine bit of cambric too,” 
looking at the fragment in his hand. “ He never read 
White’s Selborne ; Shakspeare only mentions * nine farrow 
of that sow/ No less than twenty- five ! — quite an incident 
— put it in my play,” pulling forth the MS. 

“ Time to put the ship about again, Mr. Jemmy,” roared 
the master, who had no love of literature. 

“ Eh, eh, what say — what say ?” inquired the startled 
lieutenant, dropping the precious bantling of his dramatic 
genius, which, being caught by an eddy of wind, fluttered 
and flitted along the deck. 

“ Stop there, stop,” cried the trembling parent, in his 
hurry, putting his foot through a pane in the quarter-deck 
skylight, and falling ; when his attention 1 :ing directed 
towards himself, a midshipman, whom he hac 5 punished the 
day before, gave the MS. a kick, under pretence of saving 
it, and hastened its departure through one of the gun-ports 
into the sea. Mounting on a carronade, and wringing his 
hands, as he gazed after it, he exclaimed, “ First Consul's 
overboard /” 

“ Who P” cried the admiral in affright. 

“ That sublime tragedy of mine, the First Consul, 
the ” 

“Is that all?” returned his superior, laughing; “the 


110 cavendish; or, 

old fable again ; the original went to the dogs, the shadow 
belongs to the fishes — an equal distribution.” 

“ Mr. Jemmy, if you don’t put the ship about' I must,” 
said the master, recalling the author’s ideas ; who, heaving 
a sigh at the fate of his play, and bethinking he had a 
rough copy in which he might bring forward the incident 
of the pigs, proceeded once more to work the ship. 

The next day we dined with the admiral and other officers 
in his cabin, where the governor did not fail to do every 
justice to the wine before him. Bumper after bumper went 
down ; till his sweet dialect began to assume a hesitating 
accent, and his eyes, together with his person, to roll about 
in a most unsoldier-like manner. Some did not scruple to 
affirm that he was not sober — nay, more, that he was per- 
fectly — drunk. But a man in his station ! and before ladies. 
It must not be believed. Having fallen from his chair, his 
friend Rat dutifully put him to bed, where, reader, you and 
I must take our leave of him. 

Within two days, his Majesty’s ship Vengeance was again 
riding at anchor in the lovely Bay of Naples. When we 
left Malta, it had been settled between the admiral and 
Captain Sawyer, that the latter should be ready to proceed 
with the squadron to Algiers upon our return to Malta, 
which was to take place in ten days. We had, therefore, 
four days to enjoy ourselves at Naples. Lady Carleton had 
caused a small villa to be engaged for her, most roman- 
tically situated, two miles from the city, and commanding a 
beautiful view of the sea. She therefore took immediate 
possession of it, giving us an invitation to stay with her, 
while the Vengeance remained in the Bay. 


CHAPTER XIV. 

I love her with a chaste and noble fire; my intents are 
Fair as her brow. Tell her I dare proclaim it 
In my devotions, at that minute when 
I know a million of adoring spirits 

Hover about the altar. Shirley. 

Under any other circumstances than the present, the fact 
of being so near Letitia, unfettered by the hundred eyes 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


Ill 

that surround all things and people on board a ship, would 
have proved to me a source of the greatest happiness ; but 
now it was far otherwise. 

Conscious that she was already the object of my friend’s 
affection, I endeavoured, by taking up Lady Carleton’s atten- 
tion to avoid her : but though my outward actions were 
obedient, my ears seemed involuntarily to collect whatever 
she uttered ; and however I directed my sight, her motions 
were still visible. 

" How blind I must have been,” I repeated to myself, 
“ never to have perceived her attachment to D’Aquilar ! 
The ease she feels in his society, the confusion in mine — her 
every action seems to say, * I love another.’ And why not ? 
Envious heart — sink your burning, throbbing pulse. Vanity 
alone made it appear in another point of view ; if you love 
her as deeply as you deem, the happiness she enjoys with 
D’Aquilar may yet administer a balm to the wounds of dis 
appointed affection.” 

Vainly thinking that I might teach my spirit this philo- 
sophy, against which every feeling rebelled, I found myself 
at Letitia’s side, taking a farewell walk round tj^e lovely 
gardens of their villa the night before the Vengeance was 
about to sail. D’Aquilar and Lady Carleton, much to my 
surprise, were walking on before. 

“ This,” said Letitia, at length speaking, as she paused 
on a hanging terrace that overlooked the sea, “ shall be 
my favourite spot; and that delightful arbour, clustering 
with sweets, I shall have fitted up to read, and pass the 
morning in.” 

“ Certainly,” I replied, “ this is a spot almost worthy of 
the goddess that is to haunt it ; hut why this terrace in 
particular ?” 

“ Because this terrace affords the best view of the sea.” 

“ Are you then so fond of the sea ?” 

“ Is it not your — I mean is it not the element of my friends ? 
And when from hence I behold the sky reddening in the 
sun’s retiring rays, as it is now, will it not be the connect- 
ing link to present them in imagination, though reality may 
have placed them far away ; and then think how rapturous 
is the idea, that they arc 0 ~zing on the same object with 
the same feelings ?” 


112 


CAVENDISH J OR, 


“True, with the conviction that the remembrance is 
reciprocal, it must he one of great pleasure, but ” 

I paused, and my inward monitor told me that I could 
have no share in such participation of thought. 

My voice died into a convulsive whisper ; I felt the tears 
coursing over my cheeks, while my sensations were those of 
one about to be choked. It was in vain I struggled to quell 
the rising storm ; I knew by experience it was useless. 
All those who have high spirits, know the sudden unac- 
countable depressions they are liable to. At this moment 
the sense of my utter loneliness seemed to bear me down ; 
and if all the world had been proffered to me to repress my 
tears, I could not have won the offer. 

Frightened at what she beheld, Letitia placed her hand on 
mine, and in a voice scarcely distinguishable asked if I were 
ill. At this question, so softly — gently — put, I raised my 
eyes to hers, — was it the dim starlight that deceived me, or 

did a tear The grief of years were worth bearing, 

for the bliss of that moment. Frantically clasping her in 
my arms, I pressed my lips to hers in one long kiss of 
youth, o^innocence, of love ; and while my feelings mutely 
upbraided me with this unpremeditated treason to D’Aqui- 
lar, I tore myself from her presence, and fled as if the great- 
est terror in life were pursuing me. 

As soon as I imagined the marks of my emotion had 
passed away, I ventured into the room, where a slight col- 
lation was spread, previous to our returning on board, 
which we were to do that night. Letitia’s look was calm, 
but deeply tinged with melancholy ; little was said, and the 
moment for a final parting soon arrived. Not a syllable 
was uttered, our fingers but barely met for a few seconds, 
and were then withdrawn. But the thrill of that touch en- 
dured for years. 

“ Cavendish,” said D’Aquilar, “ you appear monstrously 
sad. What makes you so low-spirited ? One would ima- 
gine that you were the lover and I the friend.” 

“ What ! I in love ? — faith, not quite so foolish yet ! I 
look upon it as the greatest act of madness of which a man 
can be guilty. That is the only time when, despite of him- 
self, a man is not a man !” 

" Right. Nature then, and then only, partakes of im- 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


113 


mortality. Bat I hate an argument ; I have something far 
more interesting to think of. I have spoken to Lady Carle- 
ton on the subject of marriage with Letitia, and she has 
given her consent/’ 

“ Has she ?” 

I could say no more. Yet had I not looked for this ? — 
did I not expect it ? Then, why should the intelligence 
affect me ? Yet, alas ! however we may prepare ourselves 
for the wreck of each argosie, beggary is not the less bitter 
on its arrival because fear had heralded its approach before. 

“ Have you,” I resumed , 44 spoken to Letitia ?” 

“ Nd ; I did not wish to press the subject so far just at 
present. Besides, I had no opportunity ; and it is a thing 
of minor importance. I think at her age there is little 
danger of predisposed affections. But you appear very 
much hipped, Cavendish, and that is unusual with you. We 
need not hurry on board directly. What sign is this ? — 
* Leon D’Oro/ Ha ! — good. Cavendish, I cannot go 
another step without some wine ; joy has maddened me 
rather ; but drinking always calms any agitating sentiment • 
so enter.” 

At the billiard- table we met several of the officers, who 
informed us that the Vengeance would not sail until the 
morning. 

“ Something gained, Cavendish, by our coming here. 
But, prithee, leave this room ; my heart flutters too much 
for my hand to play. Hey, there, Beppo ! show us into 
some private apartment, and set three bottles of Montefias- 
coni on the table. Now, glad heart, rejoice ! — send me- 
lancholy to the dogs ! I start not hence till every drop of 
that wine is drained. Boy, take away those paltry glasses ! 
Tumblers — tumblers, to drink such wine as this !” 

Two or three were soon emptied, and their effects began 
to be visible. 

“ Well, Cavendish, I feel my blood getting up ; no ship 
for me to night ! What shall we do ? Why did you leave 
the Carletons so soon ? Suppose we return ?” 

“ In mercy, no, D’Aquilar ; one parting is too much to 
be pleasant.” 

“Ah! true. Well, drink — drink!” compelling me to 
swallow a second tumbler-full. 

i 


114 


CAVENDISH ; OR, 


“ There,” I said, “ no more for me.” 

“ As you please ; but I tell thee, Manvers, that care is, 
like Clarence of old, solely fit to be drowned in wine — ecce 
signum ! May the truest pleasure ever be linked to the 
greatest danger, and men may then be heroes ! What is the 
true spring of greatness ? a mere game of hazard ! What 
made Csesar master of the world ? — Napoleon its emperor ? 
— Alexander its bully ? Washington its admiration ? — and 
W its scorn ? What made ?” 

“ Peace, Mercutio, peace ! — thou talkest of nothing ! 
What made D’Aquilar half drunk ? — Montefiasconi.” 

“ Drunk ! — drunk ! I am not, Sir Squire. But to the 
point. What shall we do ! Ha ! yonder is an old guitar 
— il vien in mente — nothing can be more appropriate now 
than a serenade to Letitia.” 

“ Oh ! folly, D’Aquilar.” 

“ Talk not to me of folly. Ho ! tnere, Beppo — another 
guitar !” 

Nothing less would suffice ; and, being half masked and 
fully cloaked, we set off once more towards her ladyship’s 
villa. 

We had barely approached within sight of Letitia’s win- 
dow, when our ears caught the last expiring echoes from 
the voice and instrument of one who appeared to have 
anticipated us in our designs. On hearing our advance, 
the stranger’s cloak was hastily flung around him, and he 
darted aside. D’Aquilar instantly gave chase ; but the 
elusion was complete. Although rather chagrined, he at- 
tributed the affair to the native gallantry of the Italians; 
and, advancing under the window, we commenced singing 
an air, tor which D’Aquilar had hastily composed some 
words, like the following : — 

SERENADE 

Sweet be the sleep that visits those soft eyes. 

And fairest forms of bliss around thee rise, 

While seraphs bright as thou thyself art fair 
Crown thy elysium with celestial care ; 

O’er thy warm pillow, Love his vigils hold, 

And whisper all devotion never told ; 

And morn and even from the distant sea, 

Echo our ceaseless orisons for thee ! 

The moon was in full splendour ; .and, as the veranda 


THE PATRICIAN AT SHA. 115 

surmounting Letitia’s window did not wholly exclude its 
rays, I observed, towards the end of our song, one of the 
lattices silently pushed open, while the glittering arm and 
faintly distinguished face told me it was herself. I heard, 
at the same time, a slight rustle in the shrubbery behind ; 
but the only object on earth for which I had any attention 
absorbed my every thought : and, anxious to hear if she 
would make any reply to our gallant effusion, and, if pos- 
sible, to take one longing, lingering look at the reality of 
that dear picture, whose semblance was too faithfully im- 
printed on every recollection of my soul, I turned not to see 
what might be the occasion of such an immaterial event. 

I had not long to wait. A movement in her position 
threw the moonlight on her features ; while, in a voice, 
whose echo has never left me, she sang the following 

ANSWER. 

* * * * 

Vain is the pray’r that slumber should impart, 

Her charmed balm when grief awakes the heart ! 

Love plants the pillow round with thorny care, 

And dearly won each rose that blossoms there ! 

The wayward soul still wanders where the prize 
Is least esteemed, and where most sought denies. 

Where most secure still most oppressed with fears, 

And prone to welcome even joy with tears. 

Born amid doubt and nurtur’d upon sighs, 

Dispel the danger and the struggler dies ! 

Had those sounds indeed ceased ? Would they not be 
repeated ? I stood entranced ; and gazing on those exqui- 
site features, where every language spoke, though all was 
silence, I saw or thought I saw, one liquid pearl slowly 
trickle down that cheek, and glisten in the moon's ray. I 
fancied 1 saw it dropping towards the earth, and, jealous 
even of the ground it would have moistened, 1 sprang 
forward. 

- — The scene around me was forgotten. I only heard the 
sound of her guitar as it fell on the floor of her room, I 
only saw her hand move, as if to waft an adieu — beheld her 
lattice close — then felt myself alone. Too soon came back 
the horrid reflection that this was not to me. Alas ! it was 
given to another. 

“ D’Aquilar, let us be gone,” said I, turning round ; but 
i 2 


11 6 


CAVENDISH ; OR, 


he was already absent. “ Most strange ! It is evident, 
from the tenor of Letitia’s song, that she mistook me for 

him, or .” Time was not allowed me for following up 

the thoughts which suggested themselves, when I heard a 
struggle, and voices behind me. Hastening to the spot, I 
beheld D’Aquilar contending with some person who was 
masked. The fragments of two guitars were scattered on 
the ground ; and, seeing that such was the order of the day. 
or rather of the night, I shivered my instrument on the 
head of the stranger, who seemed to have the odds of the 
conflict in his favour, and “ fell to with a will.” In a few 
minutes he was prostrated on the ground, and I w’as about 
to tear the mask from his face, when, for the first time, he 
condescended to speak. 

** Gentlemen, forbear ; if you persist in unmasking me, 
you know that this affair must end in bloodshed, besides 
being made public. It originated in folly on both sides. 
If you coincide with me, here it shall rest. Release me, — 
I will wish you good evening, and forget the past.” 

“ By St. Patrick, my pigeon, just as you please,” said 
D’Aquilar. 4< It appears you have more honesty than I 
granted you credit for.” 

“ Is it decided, then .?” I asked. 

“ Certainly,” replied D’Aquilar ; and having seen the 
gentleman once more regain his legs, we bowed, and sepa- 
rated with the greatest cordiality. 

As soon as the broken guitars were disposed of, I ventured 
to ask for an explanation. It was this : — At the close of 
our song, D’Aquilar had observed the figure of a man lurk- 
ing among the shrubs; and taking him to be the individual 
whom we had interrupted, he again pursued him with more 
success. A skirmish ensued, as the reader knows. 

“ Did you not hear Letitia’s song ?” I asked. 

“ Song ! song ! — did she sing ?” 

" Yes.” 

“ Confound that fellow ! Had I known my loss he 
should not have departed so easily. Let us turn back and 
ask her to sing it again.” 

“ That is very much like you, D’Aquilar ; but it does not 
suit me. It would alarm her mother directly.” 

Here D’Aquilar bestowed a few anathemas on the head 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 117 

he had failed to break, and then demanded if 1 could not 
repeat the words. 

This I expressed myself unable to do, and D’Aquilar 
having censured my stupidity, found consolation in the 
belief that he had adorned one of his antagonist’s eyes 
with mourning. Early next day we reluctantly paid the 
boatman who rowed us from a shore we had no wish to 
leave. 

" Linton, what makes you look so aristocratically sour ?” 
inquired a midshipman, at dinner, of his messmate, the 
Honourable Lawrence Linton, who had every appearance of 
being much chagrined. 

“ Sour ! I hardly know if my dignity will ever recover 
itself again. What, in the name of mercy, do you think 
they did to me last night ? — I’ll tell you. I went to the 
Opera, and seeing a very pretty girl, a few boxes off, of 
course I wished to know who she was ; and not perceiving 
at the moment any of my acquaintance, I ventured to ques- 
tion a man sitting in the same box with me, a well-dressed 
fellow, whose only point of vulgarity was his voice. In 
reply, he said something about father and mother, and 
dropped a hint of giving me an introduction. He then 
began a long discussion on Italian music, showed some 
taste, and considerable folly. The last I pardoned, first, 
as being occupied with my glass and the lady ; secondly, 
on account of his promised introduction. After being bored 
with his criticisms on every man who had ever composed a 
bar of music, from a ballad to an opera, the curtain dropped. 
Enraged that his offer of introduction had never been ful- 
filled, I was hastening to see where the woman might be set 
down, when this count made me a low bow, and asked in 
the most polished terms for my company at supper. Devil 
take the fellow ! Now I think of it, he was much too hum- 
ble for a gentleman. Well, I of course imagining that a 
man of his critical acumen would know how to arrange 
affairs conveniently, and hoping that some romantic incident 
was forthcoming, namely, that the lady was his niece or 
daughter, and that he was going to surprise me with her 
appearance at supper, consented to let fancy supply the 
place of common sense, and allow my august self to take a 
place at his supper table. His carriage was called: we 


118 CAVENDISH ; OR, 

werfc driven home : an excellent turn-out, it is true, awaited 
us, and better wine I have seldom tasted. But fancy my 
annoyance at finding no soul there, except ourselves. 

“ It was with the greatest difficulty that 1 refrained from 
denouncing the fellow in a torrent of abuse. Short was 
my stay after proving my mistake ; and on pressing him 
further respecting the lady, he put a card into my hand, re- 
questing I would come on the morrow, when he would take 
me to call on her. Forgetting we were to sail to-day, I for 
a moment relaxed ; nay, was on the point of giving him 
my card in return ; but I did not think him worth the 
trouble, and his carriage set me down at my hotel. On 

going to bed I examined the card, * Mr. , at Mr. 

’s/ I rang the bell : 

“ ‘ Waiter, who is Mr. ?’ naming the latter gen- 

tleman. 

“ * The English resident here, sir/ 

“ * Do you know if there is a gentleman residing with 
him named ?’ mentioning the supper-giver. 

“ * Oh, sir, that’s his butler !’ 

“ * Who ?’ I exclaimed, starting back several paces. 

“ * His butler, sir/ 

“ f What ! why — impossible ! — you mistake/ 

“ * O no, no mistake, I assure you, sir. Mr. is the 

envoy’s butler : I know him very well/ 

“Now fancy, what a pleasant reflection, to have supped 
with a butler ! How my cheek burns ! — Boy, bring me a 
bottle of Eau de Cologne to sprinkle on my face ; and send 
the prettiest woman you can find to fan away its spirit with 
ambrosial breath.” 

“ Very well, massa,” said the black steward, half com- 
prehending what was meant, and taking all things in their 
literal sense : “ Boy, you do tell serjeant marine wife come 
here.” 

“ Do you want me, sir ?” said the latter ; a tall, gaunt 
woman, upwards of six feet, the terror of her husband’s 
mess, appearing before Linton. 

“ Want you, my good woman ? Who told you so ? 
Where am I ?” shivering at the sight of her. Then starting 
up, “ On board? What an unromantic place a ship is! 

. Who said I wanted you ?” 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


119 


'‘The steward, sir.” 

Did he ? the scoundrel !” and jumping across the table, 
he seized the negro’s curly pate, and having kicked the poor 
fellow twice round the gun-room, sat down exhausted, call* 
ing — not for Eau de Cologne, but a glass of grog. 

So much for a midshipman’s mess. Bedlam has nothing 
to equal it. 

In an hour, the members of the upper house having ar- 
rived on board, we weighed and made sail. D’Aquilar and 
myself both remarked that one of the lieutenants wore a 
suspicious circlet around his eye, and subsequent observation 
confirmed us in the. belief that he was the stranger of last 
night’s rencontre. 

On our arrival at Malta, we found the Niobe and the 
rest of the squadron quite prepared for the expedition against 
Algiers. 


CHAPTER XV. 

And sell you, mixed with western sentimentalism, 

Some finest samples of the orientalism. Beppo. 

I had originally intended, reader, when taking thee with 
me to Algiers, to have shown thee how valiantly we of the 
Niobe cut out a vessel at Bona, for which our first-lieu- 
tenant, Michael Queer, was promoted to the rank of com- 
mander — to have explained to thee how scientifically Cap- 
tain Sawyer invented a method of making ships bomb- 
proof with bags of biscuit, &c. — how the admiral, delighted 
with the skill and talent shown in the said invention, ordered 
the rest of the squadron to be secured in the same manner 
— how we were despatched to get fresh provisions for the 
blockaders — and how, having taken on board more than 
twenty bullocks, we met with a gale of wind, and were ren- 
dered thereby so ravenous, that by the time we reached the 
squadron again, only one calf was left, which said animal 
was devoured at the admiral’s table — how the sailors were 
pleased at the captain’s preference of them to the rest of the 
ships — and how, finally, we engaged and captured an 
Algerine corvette ; but how we got the prize-money for 


120 CAVENDISH ; OR, 

her, I cannot tell thee, because I never received a sous. — 1 
might, I say, tell thee all the above, but will not, inasmuch 
as thou mayest find the fighting part of it (so I am told) in 
“ Marshall’s Naval Biography aught beside is not worth 
the trouble of writing or reading. 

We will therefore suppose that all the preliminaries of 
blockading and threatening, negociating and pacifying, are 
over ; that the admiral has obtained what he wanted, and 
the midshipmen leave to go ashore, amongst which number 
behold D’Aquilar and myself. If thou wilt condescend to 
accompany us, we will take a glance at this far-famed nest 
of pirates. 

Built on an eminence gradually rising from the sea, the 
town forms a crescent, whose concave side, filled by the 
water, makes a basin or harbour. The forts around are 
strong by nature, and rendered almost impregnable by art, 
French engineers having been employed to strengthen those 
places which Lord Exmouth’s expedition proved to be weak. 
The subject has, however, been descanted on too much and 
too well already by former writers, to require my saying any 
thing further on it here ; and a very fair notion as to the 
capability of its defence may be formed from the fact, that 
on the spot where Lord Exmouth’s flag-ship, the Queen 
Charlotte, formerly anchored, one thousand guns can now 
be brought to bear. 

Algiers has long been celebrated for producing the otto 
both of rose and jasmine. Each individual therefore took 
scrip in hand, and an empty pocket, to procure some of 
these commodities, together with many others. 

Here, as in all Ottoman ports of commerce, are to be 
found natives of every country under the sun ; but here, 
fancy delights to trace the villain in almost every coun- 
tenance it meets, calling up, to match the look of ferocity 
in their Arab features, the never-ending stories of their 
blood-thirsty cruelty and oppression ; while from the wary 
twinkle of an occasional European eye, imagination gathers 
that the owner’s pockets are well lined with gold, the pro- 
ceeds of his trade in human beings. Much curiosity was of 
course evinced at seeing us, and the throng crowded round 
to stare in a most gratifying manner. 

Disengaging ourselves from the mass of people as quickly 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


121 


as possible, we wandered on, looking in every direction — 
“ for what ?” you ask, reader, — “ for pretty female faces/* 
I reply. As far as my knowledge of the sea goes — these 
form the primary object of a sailor the moment he has 
gained terra firma. Duty afloat, but love on shore. 

After turnings and windings innumerable, we arrived at 
a low dilapidated wall, enclosing an orange- garden. It 
was situated on the brow of the hill overlooking the town. 
Life seemed scarcely to belong to the scene, so deserted was 
its appearance. The day was extremely hot; and after 
toiling through the streets under the influence of a burning 
sun, the fresh and tempting sight of the oranges and pome- 
granates offered temptations to the spirit which the flesh 
could not withstand. 

" If I remain on the outside of such an Eden, when I 
can gain the inside by climbing, Fm no midshipman,’* said 
D’Aquilar, vaulting on the wall. 

“ I think you had better not attempt it,” I replied. 
“ Remember these gentry have ‘ a sharp knife and a clear 
conscience,’ as we say, or rather a silent one.” And I im- 
mediately followed his example. 

“ Manvers Cavendish, I tell thee this ; I feel thirstily 
inclined ; and as oranges are to be had for picking them, 
have them I will — if fate permits it.” 

No sooner did D’Aquilar talk of fate, than I was con- 
vinced nothing remained but to yield to him ; your fatalists 
are never to' be convinced by any argument ; since death 
and danger — those potent ones with other minds — are lost 
upon them. 

We entered. Blame us not, fair reader. Recollect that 
your own dear mother. Eve, once plucked an apple with 
less thirst to urge her. But we entered, pulled a quantity 
of fruit, more than we could possibly want, and sat down 
under the shade of a tree, conjecturing to whom this de- 
serted spot might belong. 

“ Oh, Campbell ! oh, Cupid ! 

Oh ! love in such a wilderness as this, 

Where transport and security entwine. 

Hark !” exclaimed D’Aquilar, breaking off from his rhap- 
sody, “ surely those were voices ?” 


122 CAVENDISH ; OP 

“ Yes, decidedly,” I replied ; “ and they are approaching 
this way. Keep silence.” 

We did so, and heard the light, voluble warbling of an 
Italian songstress, that carolled forth “ albeit with untaught 
melody.” In an instant our glances met, as much as to 
say, “ There is a chance for us.” 

The song ceased, and we heard another voice in conver- 
sation. The first was a clear contralto ; but I will not be 
certain as to the exact compass. The second a rich sopra- 
no. She also spoke in Italian ; and, though a female, it 
grieves me to say but badly ; she had a foreign accent. 
Soon the speakers turned, stood still, and commenced talk- 
ing of the bay and of the English shipping, while the former 
corrected the latter in her pronunciation, proving the two to 
be an instructress and pupil. 

Their backs were towards us ; and instead of having to 
describe here two glowing figures (which nevertheless they 
did possess), I am under the cruel necessity of saying, that 
all shape was murdered by that hideous mussulman dress 
(heaven knows what they call it, 1 should call it a shroud,) 
which is a kind of half-begotten black silk cloak, without 
even that little band and the few plaits behind, which, se- 
curing it to the w T aist, give a delicious hint to him who 
follows, what beauties it may envelope. Nothing but hints 
should be given. Imagination more than fills up what is 
wanting, and this principle pursued, makes the poetry of 
life. 

But to proceed : — these two hamadryads remained talking 
and laughing in all merriment of heart, while we continued 
silent. Such a silence might have done honour "to a cabi- 
net minister’s dinner, or, — two fellows shooting at wild 
geese. 

“Angels of grace!” exclaimed D’Aquilar, unable any 
longer to contain himself. The strangers started — uttered 
an exclamation of surprise ; and the Italian remained sta- 
tionary, while the other fled a few steps. “ Never fear,” 
said the former ; “ these are only some of the English of- 
ficers ;” and she laughingly beckoned her companion to 
approach. 

Timorous as a young deer, the fugitive came nearer by 
degrees, and hung on the Italian’s arm as if for shelter. 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


123 

The face of the fair Tuscan was oval, dark, and looked most 
wickedly intent on wounding hearts ; her expression was one 
continued joyous laugh ; that of her companion was very 
tender, her large blue eyes appeared almost like some fair 
bubble, which the lightest touch would destroy. 

To the latter, I immediately gave the preference; but 
there was too great a share of coyness in her disposition. In 
other respects she was the very being that my heart 
would have chosen for a lasting passion. But dumb beau- 
ties are not suited for a passing acquaintance ; they always 
hide their faces and turn away their heads; and when people 
will not converse, you have no excuse for staring them out 
of countenance. 

Far differently constituted was the Tuscan ; she at any 
rate had not lately emerged from a cloister, as appeared 
from her story. 

She had arrived at Leghorn about a year since, to reside 
with her uncle, a rich merchant, who had become a disciple 
of Mahomet. Her fair friend was a Georgian, one of his 
numerous slaves. After some desultory chit-chat, the Tus- 
can invited us to enter her house 

“ Do you intend to introduce us to your renegade uncle ?” 
I asked. 

“ He, poor man, is in the town counting his paras. 
Little does he dream that his favourite slave and niece are 
in such close contact with so much youth.” 

We had now reached a part of the garden in high culti- 
vation, and in a few minutes stood before a habitation whose 
windows communicated with the terrace before it, having an 
appearance half oriental, half Italian. The window stood 
open ; we entered. Two square ottomans formed the greater 
part of the furniture. The room was long, high, and vaulted, 
the walls were tapestried with the most costly hangings ; 
on the ground were two hookahs, whose expiring ashes flung 
to the gentle breath of heaven a soft enervating odour ; and 
beside them stood a large bottle, richly mounted in gold, 
containing the otto of jasmine. The sun’s rays were for- 
bidden to luxuriate in such a paradise, saving one little 
patch given up to his dominion, which seemed to have been 
purposely permitted to delight the young and tame gazelle, 
that lay basking in its warmth. The creature half opened 


CAVENDISH ; OR, 


124 

its sleepy eye, as we entered, then closed it m security that 
nought of evil could approach while two such guardians were 
at hand. 

“How I could enjoy the lot of that animal,” I remarked 
in raptures, “ and pass my days in such a dear captivity !” 

“ You like our bower, then ?” 

“ Like it ! the place breathes a thousand spells of en- 
chantment ; I could wish never to depart from it, provided 
you would shut the doors on the rest of mankind/’ 

“ Ha ! I see you are romantic. I love you for that ; but 
I could remind you of a change even more suited to your 
taste than living with our gazelle. What say you to the 
captive knight, Rinaldo, in Tasso’s Gierusalemme ?” 

“ True ! that would be exquisite. Female imagination, 
I see, can improve on the most refined idea of luxury.” 

“ Without doubt,” she replied, setting before us some 
raisin sherbet, a most truly poetical beverage, notwithstand- 
ing the old mate’s abuse of this divine liquid, for not 
possessing “ the devil a drop of rum in it.” 

How lamentable it is to be cursed with a taste for 
exploring — at unseasonable times ! — D’Aquilar could not 
remain quietly to enjoy “ the feast of love and flow of soul,” 
but he must needs examine the numerous rooms which led 
from the one where we were sitting. At length we all rose 
and commenced our survey of oriental furnishing. We had 
not proceeded far, when the attention of our fair guide was 
arrested by the hoarse sound of a man’s voice, which broke 
the slumbering silence in a most unpleasant manner. Saints 
were called in abundance. I saw none of them forthcoming; 
but beheld D’Aquilar and myself unceremoniously pushed 
into what appeared to be a dressing-closet, and, what was 
still worse, we heard our fair conductress lock the door 
and take away the key. 

" What if those women should be faithless ! ” said 
D’Aquilar. 

“ Then we shall be headless,” I replied. 

At this moment we distinguished the heavy, stumpy 
footstep of some man in the room we had quitted : and the 
sound conveyed the very abstract idea of a little, short, 
bearded, savage, Othello-looking Turk. He addressed the 
fair sinners we had left ; and in a few minutes words rose 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 125 

high ; a protesting tone of voice and some sobbing followed; 
steps succeeded, and the whole died away. 

“ It's a lost game with us, depend on it ; but never heed/’ 
said I, “ faint heart ne’er won a fair lady. At any rate, 
the women have not betrayed us, dear souls. We have our 
swords still, and our cocked hats must serve us as helmets. 
Nothing is left in the room to discover us, if we are not 
known already.” 

It was now time to look about us for some mode of escape. 
The light was admitted by a narrow gothic slit, six feet from 
the ground, and so small that you could barely thrust an 
arm through, even if it were to be reached. By the dim 
glare which this admitted, we perceived a crucifix and altar 
on a small scale, some wax tapers, and several saints in 
effigy. This was evidently a chapel for the devotions of the 
good man’s niece ; however, we did not imagine its sanctity 
would save her present deities from the profanation of being 
bow-strung ! We looked round once more. In addition to 
the door by which we had entered, was another, chiefly of 
glass, and covered with a curtain. We peeped through. 
No one was in the room beyond ; with a beating heart I 
tried the lock, but it was secured on the outside. 

“ Now, D’Aquilar,” said I, “ we are lost indeed !” 

“ Fate !” said he, and began to whistle. 

“Hush! here is some one coming!” When peering 
cautiously on either side of the blind, we beheld two tawnev- 
looking rascals enter the room, their arms loaded with seve- 
ral articles which they placed upon a marble slab. The first 
thing which caught my eye was the glitter of several yata- 
ghans, which one of them proceeded to sharpen. The other 
also had his employment ; for, having set down a large 
basin of water, and two golden cups, he drew from his vest 
a little gallipot and kind of mortar and pestle. The gallipot 
seemed to contain some light-green extract. 

Taking some of this out on the point of a flat silver instru- 
ment, he proceeded to rub it in the mortar with some water, 
and then filled each of the golden cups with this liquid. 
This being finished, the gallipot was carefully covered and 
replaced in his bosom. 

“ That, I suppose, is for us,” said D’Aquilar laughing. 


126 CAVENDISH ; OR, 

“ Yes,” I replied, 44 they intend us a draught of laurel- 
water.” 

As I mentioned the last words, D’Aquilar’s colour faded. 
44 Are you ill ?” said I. 

14 No ; but are you sure that is laurel- water ?” 

44 1 suppose so. This is the oriental custom in such 
cases.” 

Scarcely had the menials departed, when the fair Italian 
entered, bearing two similar goblets, with a light- coloured 
fluid in them. Advancing quickly to our door, she tapped, 
and seeing us, said, 44 Your only chance of safety is in pre- 
tending to be poisoned ; swallow the contents of these cups, 
and fall down as if in a fit.” She then quickly put the 
vessels she had brought in the place of those the slave had 
mixed so carefully; removed the latter, and noiselessly 
glided away. 

D’Aquilar and myself had no time to exchange a syllable, 
when we recognised the sound of angry voices approaching, 
high over which might be distinguished the one that had 
interrupted our pristine state of felicity. 44 They must be 
here,” it said in Italian ; * 4 are you sure that guards are 
placed at all the doors ?” 44 Quite,” some one answered. 

44 And is that fellow certain he saw them enter ?” 44 Yes, 

positive.” 44 Then search, — first open that door.” 

In obedience to this command, some one tried the door 
of our sanctuary, and reported it was locked. 44 Go round to 
the other,” was the order. That was locked also. D’Aqui- 
lar and myself now consulted in whispers, as to our ultimate 
course, and whether we should defend ourselves or not. 44 It 
all turns upon this/ said I, — 44 shall we put faith in that 
Italian girl or not ? If not, defend, I say, to the last. But 
if you do put faith in her, why follow her direction ! I 
think both are too beautiful to have much deceit in them. 
Besides, what end will they gain by it ? They are not 
vampires ; and even granting that they have deceived, ’tis 
better to perish bv the hand of a lovely woman, than to be 
hacked to atoms by bearded men.” 

44 Very true, Manvers,” returned he in a whisper; 44 fate, 
the sex, and the laurel-leaf.” 

At this critical point, crash went the glass- door, and a 
shout from those who were looking in announced that we 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 127 

were discovered. In a second more, with our arms heroic* 
ally folded on our breasts, we stood before a posse of 

Old fellows 

All looking most preposterously jealous. 

The head man among them was the very being I had ima- 
gined — short, tough, choleric, and bilious. 

After eyeing us for some minutes, as if enraged that we 
did not crumble into dust before his glance, he thundered 
forth, in Italian, “ Which do you choose — to have your 
tongues cut out, or to swallow poison ?” 

Heaven knows it was no time for joking ; but there are 
seasons when I cannot control myself. Making him a polite 
bow, therefore, with imperturbable mock gravity, I replied, 
“ Neither, I thank you, sir.” 

Grinding his teeth, he turned to the mutes near him, — 
“ The knife, the knife !” 

“ Stay, most polite of men,” said I, interrupting him; 
“ since you are so pressing, this said cutting is but dirty 
work. To die drinking is more ship-shape of the two, and 
so, the bowl, good sir.” 

For a moment I was fearful he would not allow us the 
consolation of being poisoned. Putting on therefore a more 
serious look, “ If you are determined to act in such an un- 
christian way, I pray ” 

“ Pray not to me. Are the treasures of my heart to be 
rifled with impunity, and I not take my vengeance ? No 
more — drink, drink ! or a worse lot ” 

The hint was sufficient. D’Aquilar seized the cup ; I did 
the same, saying to the renegade as I raised it, “ Here's to 
your very good health.” 

“ Now,” thought I, “my sleep may only be wakened in 
eternity ; but if that woman is false — she was very fair ; and 
after all, there may be more joy in thus dying for her, than 
for George the Fourth ; the latter affording nought beside 
a gash in the throat, and your name in the papers. Well, 
then of course I am the gainer, — my throat is too good for 
cutting. Oh, Joseph Hume, I wish thou wert here, to put 
this down in numbers, though I am positive it's clear profit ; 
what a comfort it is to keep your accounts well !” 

Having thus hastily summed up the balance-sheet, I raised 
my eyes to take a farewell glance at old D’Aquilar. He too 


128 cavendish; or, 

seemed merrily inclined, and as I was about to drink, ex- 
claimed in strong Irish accent, “Muscha, bad manners to 
ye ! won’t you give us a toast at parting ? — sure, here’s 
better luck still.” 

I could scarcely retain my risible faculties, when I ob- 
served the old fellow drawing his yataghan. “ Drink !” I 
exclaimed to D’Aquilar ; and tossing off the contents of my 
chalice, (which were slightly bitter, and tasted of almonds,) 
I merely bethought myself, as the liquid glided down my 
throat, of Theodosius Boughton, who was stated on the 
trial to have foamed at the mouth ; of course I did the same ; 
and after dashing the vessel on the floor with all my force, 
to batter the renegade’s plate, for spite, I prostrated my cor- 
poreal form in my best theatrical style. 

Unfortunately D’Aquilar had followed my movements so 
closely, that his head came into the most unmerciful contact 
with mine. The stunning sensation produced by this, made 
me conclude for some moments that I actually was departing 
into the world of spirits. 

Having given some directions to his creatures, they 
retired, leaving us in statu quo, while our jealous tyrant 
paced up and down in as much agitation as if we had been 
the first of the human species that he had ever tried to 
murder. After a repose of ten minutes, we were again sur- 
rounded by the slaves, whom the master of the ceremonies 
had sent away. 

“ Heaven forfend !” thought I, “ if they are going to 
mutilate our remains, it’s not I who will remain to be muti- 
lated. They have yet left me my sword and keeping my 
eyelids sufficiently open to observe what was going on, to 
my horror, I beheld a man, apparently a sail-maker, who 
dragged along some old canvass, and held in his hand the 
implements for sewing us up. I never dreamt of coming 
to this, at any rate, and I called to mind the last marine we 
had buried at sea in his hammock. 

“ What shall we do with their hats and swords ?” asked 
one in Italian, who seemed to have charge of the others. 

“ Let them all go together ; they will sink the quicker,” 
answered the old renegade, leaving the room. D’Aquilar 
pressed his head against mine ; when they rudely seized 
each of us by a limb, in order to make better stowage, and 


TIJE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


129 


while we were afraid almost to draw our breath, they were 
jabbering in Arabic. They then laid us most lovingly head 
and tail. 

At this moment, in came old Stumpy the renegade, 
"when, his slaves having rolled us up in a lubberly manner, 
I was rejoiced to find that I could breathe ; and instead of 
the English custom of putting one stitch through the nose 
of the person enclosed, they contented themselves with 
razing the cuticle of my arm by a couple ; this was some- 
thing gained, and I was thankful. 

We were now in a fair way for eternity; when the second 
in command asked his superior if we should take the batV 
at once. Never in my life do I hope to feel again wha 
those few intervening seconds revealed ! The pulsations ol 
my heart were stilled ! 

“ No,” replied the renegade, after a torturing pause. 
“ Place them in the shade of the western terrace till after 
sun- set ; and then — the fish may have their feast !” 

I then felt myself elevated on some shoulders, and borne 
along at a rate which lexicographer Johnson would not 
have envied. After a few whirls, turns and descendings, 
we were plumped down on a piece of sward in the most bar- 
barous manner, and left to our ruminations. For half an 
hour we dared not speak ; but that time having elapsed, 
though to me it seemed a week, I ventured to inquire of 
D’Aquilar whether he were dead or alive. 

“ A little of both,” he answered ; “ and neither in toto ; 
what's to be done ?” 

“ Why, get out, to be sure.” 

“ Ay, but how ?” 

“ A knife used to laugh at canvass ; have you one of 
those articles?” 

“Yes, in my waistcoat pocket ; but to get at it is im- 
possible ; so we must lie here and take the chances, unless 
we choose to set off rolling, and see where we shall stop. 

“ No, thank you,” I replied ; “ we may manage better 
than that. Is your hand any where near the point of my 
sword ?” 

“ Yes.” 

“ Very good ; the ferule is loose ; do you pull it off ; 
and, as the handle is within my reach, I must manage to 

K 


ISO 


CAVENDISH ; OR, 

poke the bare point through the canvass, and work some 
sort of an outlet. Great affairs have small beginnings." 

Having, after twenty minutes' hard work, made a suffi- 
cient outlet to allow D’Aquilar's arm to move, he produced 
his penknife, and in a quarter of an hour we were enabled 
to leave our confined lodgings, without deigning to serve 
on the landlord a notice to quit. But to make up for this 
want of legality, we gave a practical illustration of 4 4 habeas 
corpus." 

The sun's red orb was only a few degrees above the 
horizon, when we beheld the scene we had so nearly 
quitted. 

“ Come, Cavendish, look sharp. Tasso's Rinaldo left 
his thrall with less cause than ourselves." 

“ Will you not wait a little, D’Aquilar, to see if she 
comes back to us ? I should like to know whether she is 
false or true." 

“ Now, man, this is carrying your gallantry too far ; but 
by heaven you shall wait by yourself. What if she did 
come ? She would only wish you to run off’ with her, and 
that is impossible ; a midshipman’s berth is not well adapted 
for the accommodation of a lady. — As I live, here comes 
the old renegade." 

“ Devil ! let us slice him," said I, drawing my toasting- 
fork in no slight fury. 

“So we will," echoed D'Aquilar, following my example, 
and both making towards him. This was a slight mistake 
of ours. Though betraying every mark of surprise, he was 
unwilling to be so summarily dealt with, and clapping his 
hands, was instantly surrounded by a set of ruffians. 

Flight, not fight, was now the order of the day. Leg- 
bail, which is a mid’s most frequent and surest recognizance, 
was now alone advisable. We rushed through the orangery, 
with all the speed of boys who ran for life. 

“ Starboard your helm, D’Aquilar ; yonder is the sea, all 
right," I cried, piloting my messmate ahead, while a rough 
grasp was laid on my collar ; it was that of a swarthy, un- 
armed Nubian. The only tongue he could understand was 
a hard one ; but there was no alternative. A tanned hide 
is but a poor coat of mail ; one simple thrust settled the 
question. The next moment we had leaped the old wall. 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 131 

and pursuit was over, the pursuers having gathered round 
the wounded man. 

Sheathing our weapons, we hurried along. “ Now, 
D’Aquilar, if I could be sure of getting clear again, I 
wouldn’t care how soon this lark was repeated, except that 
poor devil whom I was obliged to acupunct urate. I hope the 
women, dear creatures, will get off as easily as ourselves.” 

“ So do I. Now this is what I call a regular bit of fun ; 
better to be in mischief, you know, than doing nothing.” 
We stepped into a boat, and were soon on board. 

Seldom have I felt the joys of security so strongly as I 
did during that night’s middle watch, while gazing on the 
flood that had so nearly entombed us. Silence in all mat- 
ters of the heart is my invariable rule. You, reader, are 
the first person to whom this scape-grace story has been 
divulged. Mention it not on any account, or my character 
for prudence will be lost for ever. 

Thus ended, with me, the expedition to Algiers : in a few 
days we returned once more to Malta. 


CHAPTER XVI. 

Oh, Rome ! my country, city of the soul, 

The orphans of the heart must turn to thee, 

Lone mother of dead empires ! 

***** 

The Niobe of nations, there she stands 
Childless and crownless in her voiceless wo; 

\n empty urn within her wither’d hands, 

Whose holy dust w— ocatter’d long ago. 

Childe Harold. 

At a date of some six months from the events recorded in 
the last chapter, I awoke one morning and found myself in 
Rome. Rome ! what sensations does thy name and story 
awaken within the human heart ! 

When the hand of the scribbler, the eye of the reader, 
with many myriads more, are withering in the dust, others 
will similarly apostrophize England’s once imperial city. 

What are the petty griefs and triumphs of humanity, 
when thus placed side by side with the colossal images of 
History and Time ! 

k 2 


CAVENDISH J OR, 


132 

As Captain Sawyer was always most anxious to accom- 
plish anything for his youngsters which tended to give 
them information, or finish an education necessarily ren- 
dered very imperfect by their early separation from home, 

he gave leave to the chaplain and schoolmaster, Mr. , 

to take several of the youngsters up to Rome. Previous to 
our setting off, the owner of a very fine yacht, that we 
found lying at the mouth of the Tiber, made his way on 
board, and presenting his card to the captain, as Althorough 
Drinkhardson, Esq., said he should be most happy to see 
any or all of the officers to dine with him at any or all 
hours. This was a noble invitation, and was much pressed ; 
but at the time of its being so, the would-be host was 
obliged to have recourse to the ropes of the vessel to pre- 
vent his falling, because the noble gentleman was a little 
elevated. 

Captain Sawyer turned to the officers behind him, and 
repeating the invitation for their acceptance, begged leave 
to decline it for himself, as he had the most perfect abhor- 
rence of aught which approached inebriety. The officers 
asked the good-natured yachtite down into the gun-room ; 
and when he left the ship, he was on the direct road to get 
under the table. 

Almost every one has seen Rome, and the few who have 
not can find in Corinne so exquisite a description of all that 
gives to Rome its poetry, and the tyranny it exercises over 
the feelings of mankind, that any inferior pen may well be 
excused from competition with that masterpiece of descrip- 
tive writing. Our arrival in the great city took place shortly 
after the sun’s meridian, and a short stroll having been all 
that could be afforded before the gastronomical hour, we 
determined the next morning to proceed to Tivoli. 

All were stirring with the lark, except Hustle. Two or 
three of us proceeded to wake him. We shook his shoulder 
and pulled his nose ; when, instead of exclaiming in the 
flowing words of Rogers, the friend of his family, 

u I am in Rome,” oft as the morning ray 
Visits these eyes, waking at once I cry, 

Whence this excess of joy ? what has befallen me ? 

And from within a thrilling voice replies, 

M Thou art in Rome,” — - 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 133 

instead of breaking forth thus, he roughly demanded, 
44 What the devil do you want ?” 

44 Why, to go to Tivoli, to be sure.” 

44 Oh, go to Tripoli yourself ; curse Tripoli. I’m not 
going to Tripoli.” 

44 Tripoli, man ! not Tripoli, but Tivoli.” 

44 I know all about it. I didn’t come ashore to go pran- 
cing off to Tripoli. I came to get twelve hours in.* I had 
the morning watch yesterday ; I’m not going to start.” 

Finding that his bed had greater attractions than the 
romantic spot of cascades, we departed. 

On returning to the city in the afternoon, who should we 
meet but Drinkhardson, driving along in his carriage, tum- 
bling from side to side, quite intoxicated. He spoke to us, 
but we managed to get rid of him, and went to take a 
glance at. the minor but beautiful church of San Paolo, where 
we found Captain Sawyer. 

While we were admiring one of the side shrines, our 
boon acquaintance made his appearance again. He had 
tracked us out, and now staggered up with, 44 How do. 
Captain Sawyer ? how are ye ? must dine with me to-day : 
and all these fine officers, fine boys, must dine with me to- 
day.” 

Captain Sawyer frowned, bowed stiffly, and refused. But 
Drinkhardson was too glorious to perceive or notice trifles ; 
and clasping the captain round the arm, while he pointed 
with his cane over the iron railings, he said, 44 Mere 
idolaters, those rascals ! But where are all the images. 
Sawyer ?” 

44 Impertinent fellow !” muttered the captain ; and seeing 
he was likely to do some mischief, merely said they were 
behind the screen, and moved to go away. 

But not so soon, for Mr. Drinkhardson, resuming his 
hold, leant over the iron railings, and pushing aside the 
curtain with his cane, displayed a row of gilded waxen 
images, which, to our utter astonishment, he commenced 
thrashing and breaking in all directions. 

44 For Heaven’s sake, Mr. Drinkhardson!” said the 
captain, vainly trying to arrest his arm. 

(Hiccup) 44 Never fear. They won’t hurt me — I’ll do 
* In bed 16 here understood. 


134 cavendish; or, 

for them (hiccup!). I’ll knock down some of their little 
saints for them — devil take such idolatrous scoundrels. I’ll 
let them know I’m a true protestant, (hiccup !) there ye go, 
St. Peters and Pauls and Lukes into the bargain. I’ll make 
St . Marks of the whole of you.” 

“ Hold his arms, hold his arms !” cried the captain, 
angrily, trying to secure the true protestant, but it only 
increased his fervour. On he went, smashing everything 
within his reach. (Hiccup) “ Oh, don’t trouble yourselves ; 
you (hiccup) see they’re only plast — er Paris ; and those 
candles, they’re not wax — tin painted. Sir, good Sir.” hit- 
ting one with such force that it came rattling to the ground ; 
“ and that old antiq — (hiccup) — ated daub, there, not real, 
only canvas, see !” and away went the point of his cane 
through a beautiful picture, which was unfortunately near 
him. “ I’ll have at them,” he continued, struggling in 
our arms, “ none of your little plaster gods for me, or 
virgins either. I’ll exterminate the whole of them.” 

“ Signor ! Signor !” roared a crowd of Italians, rushing 
on him with the greatest fury. 

“ Don’t Signor me, I tell you ; I don’t care for your 
(hiccup) good-for-nothing little images,” pointing to the 
fragments lying on the ground, and laughing in their faces. 

I expected to see him torn to pieces or stilettoed ; but 
Captain Sawyer interfered, and begged they would spare 
him, as he was not sober ; but being a man of large pro- 
perty, would, on the morrow, liberally replace what he had 
destroyed, with a sufficient number of masses to atone for 
his impiety. A padre here took down his name and address, 
and they appeared somewhat appeased, when a loud shriek 
in another part of the building was Heard, and we beheld a 
man rushing towards the high altar, with a dagger in his 
hand, still dripping with the gore in which it had been 
steeped ; while behind came a crowd of men and women, 
pell-mell, friends of the victim to this murderer’s love — for 
such it was. How strangely similated in these climes are 
love and hatred ! so true are those words. 

Where the rage of the vulture and love of the turtle 
Now melt into sorrow, now madden to crime! 

Taking advantage of the tumult thus occasioned we es- 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


135 


caped, with Mr. Drinkhardson, and at a little distance from 
the entrance a crowd had gathered round the victim of 
revenge. 

Though my heart was sick at the bare thought, some 
unaccountable impulse urged me to pause and give a glance; 
and, as 1 beheld the lustrous eye sinking into apathy — the 
features of beauty writhing under all the agony of death — 
the warm dark current fast bubbling from its spring of life, 
the whole struck me as a scene for which, in my brief annals 
of blood and war, I have no parallel. How was my horror 
then augmented, as, gazing on those lineaments, they 
seemed not wholly strange. The sufferer lifted up her eye, 
and its expiring beam fell upon mine. “ It is* it is 
she !” I almost involuntarily exclaimed. A slight tinge of 
colour flushed over the cheek which mortally was blanching. 
Suddenly she extended her arms towards me, with a motion 
as if to rise ; twice her pallid lips moved ; a smile — bright, 
beaming, and full of love, played round them, when her 
head sunk back upon the stone, and her spirit had fled its 
tenement of clay ! 

I was awakened from the torpor into which I had fallen, 
by the crowd which pressed around me. They looked at 
me, stared at my uniform, and asked a thousand questions. 
I persisted that the recognition originated solely in mistake ; 
that she had believed me to be some one else ; and, having 
privately found out her friends, my inquiries confirmed my 
suspicions that, in the murdered stranger, I had recovered, 
but to lose, the Italian of Algiers, to whom D’Aquilar and 
myself owed our lives. Her friends in Rome who were poor, 
had sent her to reside with a relation at Leghorn : from 
thence she had sailed to live with her rich uncle at Algiers. 
“ But he was a bad man, and quarrelled with her,” said the 
weeping mother, “ and so she came back here. The villain 
who has murdered her sued for her hand ; she refused it, 
and you see the result.” 

Having mentioned the affair to D’Aquilar, we managed 
to get a private bill accepted, through a friend, to whom I 
had letters of introduction, to the amount of a hundred 
pounds, which w r e presented to her parents ; thus endea- 
vouring, by some slight return, to recompense the benefits 
received at the daughter’s hands. 


136 cavendish; or, 

Rome, however, has its beat for scandal, like every other 
city ; and the first report that I heard, was of an English 
officer having murdered an Italian lady, “ all for love.** 
Next, that she had fallen in love with him, refused a third, 
and that the last had made use of a stiletto to pierce the 
heart impenetrable to his sighs ; and, finally, that the officer 
had followed the murderer to the altar, and despatched him 
there with his uniform sword ; for which the officer, very 
properly, was to be burnt at the auto-da-fe to-morrow. 
Many other reports were afloat, equally absurd. 

I know not whether any of these rumours had reached 
Captain Sawyer, or whether his delicacy forbore to touch 
upon a subject which he perceived had considerably affected 
me ; but he certainly did make no allusion to it whatever, 
and I felt grateful for his forbearance. Mr. Drinkhardson, 
having paid for his frolic like an Englishman, was, in virtue 
of that character, at full liberty to commence another ; but, 
with unusual wisdom, forbore to do so. And why ? — because 
he was too tipsy for a week to leave his room. 

His yacht was commanded by his youngest brother, Percy 
Drinkhardson, a commander in the navy, and the very 
antipodes both of Timon and his brother. From him I 
received an invitation to go on board, and take a cruise for 
two months. He intended going to Sicily, and expected 
much amusement from the trip. As I had no dovbt that 
this would be the case, I accepted the invitation wi;h plea- 
sure ; in the interim returning on board with the chaplain 
to ask leave of the captain, he having left Rome for his 
ship. We reached the shore, and having made a signal for 
a boat, one was sent for us. She had gained one half of 
her destination, when, a wave striking her on the quarter, 
she broached to and filled. It was singular that the only 
man in the boat who in this instance escaped drowning, was 
the coxswain, who swam back to the ship, though the wind 
was against him. As they were coming towards the shore, 
the midshipman, thinking it was too hazardous, wished to 
turn back. From this he was dissuaded by the men, who 
knew, if they once reached the shore, it would be impossi- 
ble to get back again. Himself and four men, who made 
for land, were drowned ; the other, who had once before 
escaped, was picked up by a boat. Poor Ridout ! every 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 137 

b-»dy esteemed him for his mildness and gentlemanly 
manners. 

The captain was of course exceedingly hurt and grieved ; 
but, as soon as I could ask him for it, I obtained leave of 
absence, as I had been rather unwell ; notwithstanding that 
the example of Drinkhardson, senior, was not considered 
very desirable. But my steadiness, (remember that, reader !) 
and my mature age, — now nearly seventeen ! — being taken 
into account, it was thought I could more than avoid — detest 
it. Among my numerous letters of introduction were three 
or four for Sicily ; and, never doubting that I should find 
many friends there, we set sail for Palermo. 

Palermo ! — oh, Palermo ! — thou seat of pleasure, wreck 
of joy ! — what shall I say in praise of thy fair beauty ? Lan- 
guage is dumb — so are the glowing eyes within thee ; and 
yet how many volumes would they fill ! Ay, tomes upon 
tomes, were Love the editor. I see thee now — thou mart 
of all that’s lovely 1 Yonder is the Marina, encircling thy 
bay ; while grow upon its waters the forests of thy com- 
merce, transporting to distant climes the produce of thy 
soil, thou garden of Europe ! Immortalized by endless asso- 
ciations ! — Hallowed by the tomb of Archimedes, memorable 
for the Qusestorsliip of Cicero, who bore the weight of public 
office on thy shores ! 

But how different the scene from the days of the tyrant 
Yerres ! — The sun is hastening to another world, and flings 
his last warm look upon the crowd of carriages, and 
dazzlingly-fair women, pouring forth to yield some glimpses 
cf delight to the numerous and hospitable Sicilian noblesse. 
Walking by their side, in joyousness, comes the damsel, 
neatly clad in the attractive costume of the country, while 
at her side smokes and talks her cavaliere serviente . Here 
stands a merchant, busy with his cargo and trading captain ; 
a little further off, a British officer agreeing for a freight, 
while in the harbour row the quarantine boats, their flags 
inscribed “ Sanita •” all, all presenting one wide view of 
ecstasy, delight, and animation. 

Having taken up our quarters at the hotel , we 

settled our friend, Mr. Althorough, over his bottle, with a 
quondam companion or so, and then Percy and myself 
sallied forth to look about us. As he had before resided 


138 


CAVENDISH ; OR, 


here for some months, he took me to call on several of his 

old acquaintance, among whom were the Marchese and 

his wife. They were both young and handsome ; but the 
latter term is weak and paltry, to express the look of spi- 
ritual intelligence that beamed from the lady’s face — minute 
to a perfection ; for, when was size the warranty of ex- 
cellence ? The cast of her countenance was decidedly me- 
lancholy ; and yet such an occasional glance of archness 
beamed from her dark eyes, and gathered round her mouth, 
that the beholder almost started at the contrast. There was 
little or no colour in her face, except one bright, deep, tiny, 
spot of crimson, while that fascinating, transparent com- 
plexion, which ushers its victim to the grave, seemed to 
say, “ I shall not long be here.” 

We talked of who was here, and who was not ; what 
man’s wife had left him last ; who was the supreme belle 
amidst such a galaxy ; and, lastly, of the masque-ball about 
to be given that evening in honour of St. Rosalia. Was 
the marchese going ? Yes, he was going, of course. 

“ I am glad to hear it,” responded his wife, “ as in that 
case you can take me.” 

Looking very blank at this proposal, the marchese 
replied, “ I think, with your hectic complaint, you had 
better remain at home. As to my taking you, that is out 
of the question ; I have another engagement.” 

This was uttered in a heartless, disagreeable manner; 
and, by the swollen, trembling eyelid, I perceived how 
deeply it was felt. Very little more convinced me that 
Love had long since spread his wings to leave such an ill- 
assorted pair. 

I know of nothing which finds its way so quickly to the 
heart of man, as beholding a beautiful and neglected wife. 
“ This man knows not the value of the jewel entrusted to 
his care ; but, were she mine,” we exclaim to ourselves, 
“ what adoration could I not pay her !” Pity’s soft influence 
unlocks the heart, while treacherous love is following fast 
behind. These were my feelings at beholding the delicate 
and interesting marchesa ; and before I had been two hours 
in her society, I was firmly entangled in a web of no incon- 
siderable difficulty and danger. I only saw a being formed 
to afford the heart of man all that could make it happy, 
spurned and thrown aside, in utter ignorance of her worth. 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


139 

We took leave, but not before the marchese had pro- 
mised to bring his wife to the masquerade, and she, in 
return, had exempted him from any subsequent attendance 
on her. 

It is common for officers in the Mediterranean to pur- 
chase some fanciful costume ; I had also followed this ex- 
ample, and bought an Albanian dress, the most superb cos- 
tume of any, being laced and brocaded with gold in every 
direction. Percy had one similar to it, and in these we 
made our appearance at the fancy ball. With an intuitive 
feeling my steps followed my truant heart, and I was soon 
waltzing with its conqueror, the marcliesa. 

“ When did you arrive in Sicily ?” 

“ Two days since.” 

“ You came from Naples ?” 

“ No, from Rome.” 

“ Have you been any length of time from England ?” 

“ Only a year.” 

“ In what part of the continent have you been chiefly 
staying ?” 

“ Scarcely in any ; I have been solely on board my 
ship.” 

“ What, your beautiful yacht?” 

“ O, no ! I am a servant of the king and am now on 
leave from my vessel, the Niobe.” 

“ How long have you served ?” 

“ A year.” 

“ At what age do officers generally go to sea ?” she con- 
tinued, after a pause. 

‘‘At thirteen,” I replied, rather astonished at the number 
and tendency of her questions. But in a few T moments I 
perceived their real drift, that of ascertaining my own age. 
Being somewhat ashamed of my juvenility I took the liberty 
of adding a year or two. 

“ And how do you like the Sicilians ?” asked my fair 
partner. 

“ The true answer to that question you would deem 
flattery, since I have only seen yourself to form an opinion. 
What lady is that in the next dance, in the dress of a sul- 
tana ?” 

“ Oh, that is the prima-donna ; every one is falling in 


CAVENDISH * OR, 


140 

love with her, and trying to make her return the compli- 
ment. She certainly sings divinely, though I do not 
admire her.” 

As the marchesa said this, I observed her eye wandering 
to the prima-donna’s partner. " That gentleman,” I re- 
marked, “ seems to have succeeded in his aim ; there 
appears to be a good understanding between them ; who 
is he ?” 

“ He is my husband,” she replied, with much emotion, 
while a tear that had been slowly gathering on her lid fell 
warm upon my hand, which held her own, as, with a look 
that asked the heart for sympathy, and robbed it of affection, 
she said, in a low voice, “ I am quite forsaken by every one. 
Is it not too cruel for one only married two years ?” And 
before the assumption could be discovered changed the con- 
versation. 

“ Not quite by every one I hope,” replied I, involuntarily 
pressing to my lips her little fingers, while the blood suf- 
fused my temples, and I dared not lift an eye to see how it 
was taken. Her hand, however, was not withdrawn ; and 
having seen her seated, and in possession of an ice, I shortly 
retired to ponder — love more deeply, and be lost ! 

Going out to my hotel, my dress was quickly changed for 
that of a domino ; and having stained my face as nearly as 
possible to resemble the complexion of a German, I mounted 
a huge pair of whiskers and mustachios, and put a commen- 
tary of the same language into my mouth. I had every 
reason to believe that I should not be recognised. After 
sauntering through the various apartments without meeting 
any one that I knew, a suite of rooms presented themselves, 
fitted up in the most gloomily fantastic way, which gave the 
imagination leave to picture to itself the cave where Sinbad 
was buried alive with his wife in the island of Serendib, 
or those of Elephanta ; while some lovely women at one end 
represented man's last and earliest objects of idolatry ; or 
finally, they might be pronounced to be those of Istakar, 
where the idols, in one case, would in the other form the 
treasures of the Preadamite Sultans. 

Far. different feelings were, however, throbbing in my 
breast, and other thoughts engaged my mind, where, for 
the first time since I had lost Letitia, passion was silently 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


141 

and rapidly reasserting her dominion. I had flung myself 
on a sofa within a species of alcove formed by the rocks 
above, and before me were several seats. The party of 
ladies alluded to advanced, ignorant of my presence, till 
they were so near, that from the snatches of the conversation 
I was enabled to gather the sense of their subject. To 
listen I knew was wrong, and if I discovered myself I should 
frighten them, and it was in my power to be as mute, rela- 
tive to what I might hear, as the inanimate objects around 
me. I therefore determined to remain silent. 

u A woman’s revenge, dear ; he deserts you ; half-a- 
dozen cavalieri-serventi ; no one gives you credit for your 
moderation ; your partner this evening ?” 

The first voice ceased with this interrogatory, when, to 
my surprise, I heard that of the marchesa say — “ English 
officer — so young ! ” 

“ Englishman ! the very thing ; those English have such 
an enterprising spirit — husband — yours has — much — diavo- 
lo in him — requires skill to manage — I’ll give you every 
advice — depend — only thing — bring back — husband’s af- 
fection — he sees — others think you — worth having.” 

“ I’m racked,” returned the marchesa; “jealousy and 
despair ! How advise — to such a course — the youth’s sake 
— bring myself — such a thing — so young — he — innocent.” 

Here I nearly laughed outright. “ Oh ! Francesca,” the 
-other continued, " all — wrong notions.” 

“ Quite so,” remarked some others, all seemingly anxious 
to reduce the poor marchesa to the same level as them- 
selves. The principal voice continued, " A mere cavaliere- 
servente — pooh — necessary appendage — married to-day — 
only thing — keep — husbands — order — greater youth — in- 
nocent — greater the conquest — abominable husband — your’s 
— flirts — detestable creature — prima-donna.” 

“ Almost — say — would — be revenged,” sobbed the mar- 
chesa. 

“ Nobly said,” returned the other. “ Take a seat, 
dear.” 

“ Ha ! who is this ?” exclaimed the marchesa, with a 
slight cry. 

“ Fear not,” I replied, as I received her falling figure, and 
supported it in my arms, 

" Who is it ? 


CAVENDISH ; OR, 


1 1*2 

“ Your young friend, the Englishman,” I replied. “ Calm 
yourself, my dear marchesa, you may rely on my discre- 
tion.” 

She had fallen on my neck ; and while her trembling 
arms encircled me for support, she begged me to leave 
her. 

“ Certainly,” I replied, “ this instant, if you please ; my 
being here was purely accidental. I will see you home 
immediately, if you will allow it. But pardon me if I have 
caused you any alarm.” 

“ I have nothing to pardon, save my own folly ; and of 
that I cannot absolve myself. Oh ! what must I appear in 
your eyes !” she exclaimed in great emotion ; “ you cannot 
appreciate the feelings that are destroying me.” 

“ My dear marchesa, not only can 1 appreciate your feel- 
ings, but, believe me, I share them . 


CHAPTER XVII. 

Oh, love ! oh, glory ! what are ye who fly 
Around us ever rarely to alight? 

There’s not a meteor in the Polar sky 
Of such transcendant and more fleeting flight. 

* * * * ♦ 

A thousand and a thousand colours they 

Assume, then leave us freezing on our way Don Juan. 

Oh, love ! Truly has he spoken, who says — “Not like a 
child, but as some mighty demon of the air thou shouldst 
be painted for at thy touch poor mortals crumble, empires 
pass away. 

What needs it here to follow up the path of folly, passion, 
and remorse ? Suffice it to say, that while my passions led 
me healdong into an affection that I knew to be wrong, my 
reason rebelled, though vainly, against it, and, however 
unpremeditatedly, the marchesa and myself followed nearly in 
the same erring path which all around were pursuing, 
with this slight difference, fashion and caprice drew them 
forward, while we, unfortunately, were urged by a power 
far more resistless. The husband for his part seemed truly 
to rejoice that his wife tormented him no longer ; the man- 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


143 

ner in which she might choose to fill up the hiatus in her 
.affections was to him a matter of the most aristocratic 
indifference. 

Seven weeks had elapsed since our first arrival at Pa- 
lermo ; another fortnight would bring our separation. As 
Percy had promised to take me back to the Niobe at the 
expiration of my leave, I dared not trespass on the captain’s 
good-nature, and it was absolutely necessary that the yacht 
should sail. 

Reader, let us take the car of Ariel, and, borne on the 
last mite of a retiring sunbeam, enter the window that looks 
on this Italian garden. We are in a large, cool room ; it 
is nearly dusk ; at one end are sitting two figures ; one is 
our friend Percy, and the other is Cleanthe Canduretti. 
Her hair has burst from its confinement, and wanders over 
a lovely Grecian face, as if it fain would dry the tears that 
roll in anguish beneath. Her appearance is confused and 
agitated ; the youth is now kneeling at her feet. 

“ Why do you weep, dearest ?” said Percy, after a short 
pause. 

“ Oh, Percy, ask your own heart what am I now ? where 
hide myself ? how meet my father’s eye again ? ” 

“ My life, my soul, all are answered thus : you are mine, 
mine for ever ; bound by the strong indissoluble ties or 
heart and spirit, to which the cold formalities of the world 
are weak. Do you want proofs of this assertion ? look 
around. In this large and populous city, can you find one 
couple who even respect another. Do they not all conjoin 
to set at defiance the forms into which they have entered ? 
Do they not pollute the sacred bonds of friendship, and all 
beside ? And is not this the test to show that love and 
wedlock are not one? No, my own Cleanthe; I have 
sworn at the altar that I most adore, the shrine of your 
sweet self, ever to foster and protect thee ! ” 

“ But the world, Percy, the world, they will not look 
upon it thus.” 

“ The world, Cleanthe ! and can you ask the world what 
they may choose to think ? What is the world to us ? We 
need not sue to it for bread ; it would be in vain were it 
even necessary. Can they add one iota to our little day of 
happiness ? O, no ! then whv let them take away from 


144 cavendish; or, 

it ? I ask no other world than thee — can offer none except 
myself.” 

“ And if you desert me, to what mercy shall I then be 
left ? — That of the world I scorned ! ” 

“ Nay, Cleanthe, you are unkind. Have you seen aught 
in me that you deem is false ? Name it, and I will pluck it 
forth, though life and existence ebb with it.” 

“ Never, love ! It was but a horrid forethought of what 
the future might bring with it ; but if you do leave me, 

thank Heaven, life will soon sink beneath ” 

“ Oh, never dream of it, Cleanthe. All that human vows 
can proffer, I have pledged to you ; if you distrust these, 
time alone can bring the proof.” 

It is too late to hesitate ; I do — I have renounced all 
that the world contains, for you, Percy, do not deceive me !” 
And she hid her face in the breast of her protector, as if to 
shut out from her own view the magnitude of the error she 
had committed ; while a fresh and deeper burst of sorrow 
plainly proved it was passion and not conviction to which 
she had yielded. She was not convinced, no, nor did he 
feel that there was truth in the sophisms he had uttered ; 
but it was the wish of both that it might be so, and fancv is 
a willing slave. As she had said, it was too late to hesitate ; 
Virtue had slept while there was time to save, and awoke 
only to torment when reprieve was past. 

Cleanthe Canduretti was the only daughter of a Greek 
chieftain, possessing considerable power, and now at the 
head of a party in Morea. Knowing the dangers and vicis- 
situdes of war, he had entrusted his only child (she had no 
mother to protect her,) to the superior of a convent in some 
retired part of Greece ; but the blind urchin, whose delight 
it is to explore his way where we with all our eyes can never 
reach, found out this classic treasure ; an American officer, 
Henry Washington, then serving in the Greek cause, saw 
and loved the beautiful recluse. 

Among the many parties that divided this unfortunate 
country, the two of greatest power were those of Canduretti 
and Gracchius, and (as is always the case) between these 
two raged a tenfold jealousy. Washington unfortunately 
belonged to the latter, and all chance of gaining the daughter 
from the father's hands was out of the question ; — first, as 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


143 

belonging to the party of his foe, and next as possessing 
little but his sword. This attachment no sooner came to 
the parent’s knowledge, than he wrote to his friend. Count 
Sezzorici, at Palermo, to receive her into his family, till he 
could afford her a permanent home with himself. At this 
time she was only sixteen ; and to her, the separation gave 
little pain. But Washington, whose mind was bent upon 
possessing her, felt the loss most acutely ; the more so, as 
the measure had been so secretly adopted that he knew not 
where to follow her. 

At the house of Sezzorici, Percy first met her. Being a 
young man of fortune, holding a commission in our service, 
accustomed to have his own will undisputed, of nervous 
temperament, lively disposition, and attractive exterior, little 
surprise was occasioned by seeing his intimacy courted by 
the fair sex, or himself heedlessly following up the bent of 
his ow T n inclinations. From mingling in the constant scenes 
of dissipation which the higher grades of life present, more 
especially on the continent, he had learnt to look on mar- 
riage with feelings of jealousy and distrust, which pre- 
determined him never to enter it ; and under this influence 
he persisted in gaining the affections of the being that he 
loved, to win her towards her own dishonour. And if there 
be one cruelty greater than another, into which man is apt 
to be led, it is this. 

“ Must you return to your ship punctually, Cavendish ?” 
he inquired of me, as we were sitting over our dessert. 

“ To a day, if possible. I am sorry to say, next week 
must see us depart.” 

“ What says your heart to that. Master Manvers ?” 

“ ‘ No,’ is the answer it gives.” 

“ I thought so. Now, Cavendish, I am sure you will not 
accuse me of prying into your affairs ; but have I not heard 
you remark that you were independent of the service, and 
free to leave it at an instant ?” 

“ Yes,” I replied, “ and I now repeat it.” 

“ This midshipman’s life is a great bore, is it not ?” re- 
sumed he. 

“ Why, truly, if we take it such as I am now making it, 
there is no great hardship in the matter.” 

“ True,” returned he. “ But how do you like the idea 
L 


146 CAVENDISH ; OR, 

of taking up with the Niobe, instead of the marchesa — 
instead of sighing in a lady’s bower, keeping the middle 
watch in a squall of rain, thunder and lightning ?” 

“ Not at all ; that is a thought of sadness as well as dark- 
ness ; but what can I do ? if you see any alternative, let me 
have it, I pray.” 

“ Cavendish, I believe you to be a true man. Give me 
your word of secresy, and you shall know my plans.” 

" Most unreservedly ; I am mute.” 

“ Good. I need not inform you of my attachment to 
Cleanthe. She has consented to accompany me when the 
yacht leaves Palermo. I intend to cruise six months on 
shore, alternately with six days at sea. There is a beautiful 
little villa which I contemplate taking at Nice. When tired 
of that, I shall proceed to Constantinople, and so forth. 
Now, if you can gain over the marchesa to leave Palermo 
with you, there are ample accommodations on board at your 
disposal, and the majority will be equal, as the Hibernians 
say ; it will metamorphose the ship into a paradise. My 
brother Althorough w r ill devote himself to the wine, and we 
to the women. What need to ask the world for joyance, 
when we can create it for ourselves ?” 

What a mad plan ! my heart beat thick with delight, — 
somewhat alloyed, I must confess, with remorse. Widely 
as we had strayed from what was right, it was yet within 
our power to return, and this proposal awakened in my 
bosom those feelings which had only lain dormant, but had 
never been defunct. “ Well, supposing all these points 
gained, what am I to do with my ship ?” 

“ Oh, let her go to the dogs. When they find you do 
not come back, all they can do is to put an R. against your 
name,* — and what care you?” 

“ Nothing for the service, certainly; but Captain Sawyer! 
— that is the rub ; after all his kindness I cannot offer him 
such a return. Besides the annoyance it would ultimately 
give him, he would suffer much anxiety at my absence.” 

“ Write him a letter, then, and say you can’t come ; that 
you’ve something else to do.” 

“Yes, I fancy I see myself writing that. Why, he would 
be making sail after us in the Niobe, and blowing your barky 
out of the water. No, no ; if such a step is to be taken 
* Signifying run, or absconded 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


147 

much as I hesitate, I must request my discharge, and let us 
appoint some night for the double elopement ; when we 
have them safely on board, more time will be llowed us to 
consider/* 

“ Very true ; this day week, if the wind is fair.** 

“ What day is this ?** 

“ Friday. So while you go to inform the marchesa of 
her destination, I will urge Cleanthe to prepare by the ap- 
pointed day. The details we can arrange at leisure.** 

The hotel of the marchese was on the western side of the 
bay, where its windows commanded a view of the sea. 
What a struggle of emotions ! — what a consciousness of 
wrong filled my heart as I entered the suite of apartments 
belonging to his wife, from the flower-garden, by a postern- 
gate, whose key was always in my possession. I stood at the 
door of her boudoir — gave my signal, and was admitted. 

I found her reclining on a low settee, before an open 
window that commanded the enchanting view presented by 
the bay of Palermo, whose rippling waters flowed so faintly 
to the shore, as scarcely to be heard ; while the bright 
effulgence of the moon was unbroken, save by an occasional 
mast springing up from the blue bosom of its liquid bed — 
the light now brilliantly displaying the flat roof of some 
palazzo, then sunk in shadow between the numerous streets 
that intersect the town. 

Yonder was the Marina, with its tide of carriages, where 
I had so often met my lovely friend, while her husband, 
driving past, would turn his head away from our carriage. 
Oh, resplendent scene ! twined with the innermost chords 
and feelings of my heart, must it indeed pass away ! Must 
it indeed pass from sight, however fondly retained by every 
sad remembrance! Must these maddening moments mingle 
with the lapse of time, leaving no trace except their 
vacuum ? 

“ Love, you are sad ! why so absent ? — what is your 
wish ? If in my power ** 

“ Francesca, I would have immortality to stay these fleet- 
ing hours of overflowing happiness. Alas ! even we ** 

My words died away ; my eye had caught the bright and 
crimson spot upon her cheek, and I fondly pressed it to my 

l 2 


148 CAVENDISH ; OR, 

lips, as if the print of death’s finger could be as easily ef- 
faced as the purple bloom from the fruit we prize. 

A balcony encircled the house, and the light boughs of 
an orange-tree had been trained around the window. There 
the golden produce invited the hand to pluck it, — there the 
silvery blossom flung its perfume on the passing breeze ; 
while, twining around, was that emblem of woman’s love, 
the passion-flower — bright in its hues as aught the mind 
can image ; but oh, how slight, how frail, how soon by 
tempests torn ! 

“Francesca,” said I, tremulously, again breaking the short 
silence, “ you have given me many proofs of your affection, 
and all I have to offer in return is the devotion which you 
know that I feel for you, — will you afford me another ?” 

44 Any, all — you have but to name.” 

“ Can — you — leave your home for me ?” 

She sighed. “ I wish you had not asked me thus, be- 
cause it seems as if there were something wrong in asking 
me to leave my home ; but had you only said, ‘ Will you 
follow me ?■’ I could have answered, ‘ Yes, to the end of 
the globe nor have felt there was any harm in saying so, 
because my heart is already yours. But tell me, dear, dear 
Manvers, do you think there is any harm in my doing so ? 
You see I am as much forsaken here as I am loved ” 

I turned away from that beaming look of innocence that 
gazed into my face, as though each thought were written 
there, and made no other reply than to fold her more closely 
to my erring heart, and think, as I looked upon the sea, how 
inscrutable are the paths through which we are led. 

Here was a creature, cast in Heaven’s brightest mould, 
and formed with all that might be made divine ! — had she 
been bound to one that would have performed his sacred 
duties towards her, how different might have been her des- 
tiny ! The vulture of remorse was gnawing at my soul ; I 
scarcely knew what answer to make to her guileless ques- 
tion, when a step was heard in the balcony ; the leaves of 
the orange-tree were pressed on one side, and a human 
figure intercepted the straggling moon- beams that played 
upon the room wherein we were sitting. The marchese 
stood before us. 

“ Is this, madam, the manner in which you regard your 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


143 


sacred vow of fidelity ?’’ said he, breaking the silence, bat 
without evincing the slightest emotion either by look or ac- 
tion. His arms were folded on his breast, and he remained 
in expectation of his wife's defence. I arose, and placing 
myself before her in an attitude of protection, was about to 
reply, when she motioned me to silence ; and rising with a 
coolness which I was not aware she possessed, unL eked a door 
that led to her husband's apartment. Here his indifference 
failed ; he became pale, and showed some irresolution whether 
to depart or not ; but it was now immaterial, as the mar- 
chesa had returned, leading in the beautiful but terrified 
prima-donna. 

“ My wit," said Francesca, “ is very trifling ; this lady's 
is said to be exuberant ; I have therefore brought her 
to answer the difficult query you proposed to me, as I think 
her lips have more persuasion for my husband’s ears than 
those of his wife. My good friend," turning to the prima 
donna, “ the marchese wishes to be informed if this mode 
in higher life of following up the ceremony of marriage be 
altogether consistent with the oaths that rite imposes ?" 

The prima donna was overcome ; and flinging herself at 
the wife’s feet, could only articulate the words, “ Forgive, 
forgive !" 

“ Madame," said the marchesa, “ I have nothing to for- 
give ; you won my husband's fickle heart ; but not perhaps 
till I had lost it. The marchese found it necessary to fill the 
vacuum of an insincere bosom, while the warmth of mine 
required some styptic for its bleeding wounds. Both are 
now provided. If your grace’s curiosity," addressing her 
husband, “ is satisfied, I will thank you no longer to vio- 
late the privacy of your wife’s boudoir." 

He bent his head ; and, in accordance v/ith her request, 
stepped from the balcony towards his own room, saying, 
sotto voce , as he passed me, “ The stabs of noble families 
are only mortal in the light of day. Can you be secret ?" 

“ As the grave," was my reply. Making a polite bow, 
the marchese took the swooning prima donna in his arms 
and retired to his room. The marchesa secured the door-^- 
we were again alone. 

“ What think you of me now ?" said the latter. 

<c More, love, than ever, if that be possible ; and as for 


150 


CAVENDISH ; OR, 

your husband, I never saw his character in such an amiable 
point of view before. It is impossible to know the extent 
of a man’s high breeding until he has been placed in situa- 
tions to evince it. Our English manners possess much of 
the suaviter in modo ; but I think the extreme of haut ton 
would hardly have borne out so philosophical a practice of 
Horace’s Nil admirari , or Pelham’s Nil lugere. Such a 
scene, my dearest Francesca, is vivifying to a degree, and, 
as a Frenchman would exclaim, charmante. But, Cicha, let 
us recur to my proposal, now that this interruption is over. 
Can you sacrifice for me ” 

The night, the decisive night, arrived, so big with joy, 
hope, fear, and all the varied emotions that tear and agonize 
the wonderfully-structured frame of man. The enormity of 
my offence had paralysed my energies ; I scarce knew 
whether to proceed or to retreat ; but I had gone too far, — the 
former was all that now remained to me. Cleanthe Canduretti 
was seated in the boat, now waiting beneath the shadow of 
some rocks, upon which were based the walls of the marchese’s 
hanging gardens. Francesca’s arm was locked in mine ; her 
confidential handmaid was behind, with the few things we 
deemed it advisable to take, when in an instant a body of 
ten or a dozen men, well armed, surrounded us, and two 
proceeded by force to separate Francesca from myself. In 
an instant my sword was bathed in the blood of one, when 
my eye caught the cool and handsome features of the Mar- 

chese . My arm was drawn back for a thrust, and in 

the space of a second he would have lain upon his own 
grounds, without a claim for more than would have given 
him burial, when the point of my weapon was beaten up, and 
a blow upon the arm which embraced Francisca’s waist made 
it fall paralysed by my side, while the shriek she uttered at 
the separation pierced me more keenly than the sword. 

“You have broken your promise,” coolly remarked the 
marchese. 

“ Deceitful wretch, you lie ! give me back the sword that 
your ruffians have wrested from me, and I will prove it on 
thy reptile body,” I replied, fiercely struggling to disengage 
myself. 

“ Be cool, my dear fellow,” said Percy, coming from the 
boat, but unable, from want of men, to attempt a rescue 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


I5J 

with anything like success ; “if you are very fond of fight- 
ing, as Napoleon said to Sir S. Smith, you shall have plenty 
of it ; but not now, for I think you have had enough already 
to satisfy any reasonable mortal. See, you are bleeding 
like a slaughtered ox.” 

Heeding not what he said, I sprang towards the spot 
whence the shrieks proceeded ; but a dimness grew over 
my sight. The last thing I heard was the cool, indifferent, 
laughing voice of the marchese, saying, “ Rash boy 1” and 
as the dizziness of insensibility increased, I fell upon the 
earth, which had witnessed the last parting with all I now 
felt dear to me in life. 


CHAPTER XVIII. 

Behind her, Death 

Close following pace for pace, not mounted yet 

On his pale horse. Milton. 

When the nerves of vision next conveyed their images with 
awakened sense to the mind, I perceived by my bed-side 
two figures. At the first I looked long and ardently, in 
anxious hope ; and then turned away in the fullness of dis- 
appointment. Yet was she truly beautiful. Dark raven 
locks were streaming in profusion around a face that might 
have passed for the most perfect model of Grecian beauty ; 
while the exquisite symmetry of her features, fair almost as 
the Parian stone, were relieved and enlivened by two hazel 
orbs, that spoke, if not audibly, yet effectually, of the soul 
which animated them. They were bent on me with every 
glow of kindness ; but those were not the lineaments to 
which my memory clung. I turned on my pillow, in lassi- 
tude both of body and mind. The agonizing reminiscence 
of the past rushed over me like an impetuous flood, waking 
me to the lonely sense of where I really was. It was 
Cleanthe Canduretti ; Percy sat beside her. A week had 
elapsed since the defeat of my intended elopement ; and the 
delirium of fever had relieved me from the tortures of 
memory. 

How woke he from that dream ? He did awake, 

To curse the v ither’d heart that would not break. 


152 cavendish; or, 

From what I saw of Cleanthe, she was a prize indeed , 
but, through all her unbounded affection, I detected the 
writhing of the worm. Her departure from the paths of 
virtue was yet too recent to let such feelings slumber ! Percy 
seemed to enjoy only one feeling, and that was centered in 
her. “ Had I succeeded, I too might have been as happy !” 
was my constantly- recurring, futile wish ; but perhaps my 
failure in such a case may tarn out more advantageous to all 
parties than the most complete success. 

When we again reached the Niobe, my wound was slowly 
healing ; and I returned on board, shattered in mind, and 
debilitated in body. To the kind inquiries of Captain 
Sawyer, I replied that we had been attacked by some ruffians, 
in beating off whom I had received my wound. On hearing 
this account, he generously allotted me a berth in his cabin 
till my convalescence. 

It was the custom on board his Majesty’s ship Niobe, to 
congregate all the unpast mids in the captain’s fore-cabin, 
on Sundays, to hear them say their collects, and read the 
lessons of the day. On one of these occasions Lord Asskin 
was told to read a chapter in the Pentateuch ; and Captain 
Sawyer afterwards asked him who wrote the five books 
of Moses. This was somewhat too deep for his lord- 
ship ; and after looking into his brain, and out of the cabin- 
windows (gun-ports), he replied, “ Solomon, sir !” 

“ Psha ! you stupid donkey ; you shall get the Bible by 
heart !” 

“ Oh ! no, sir ; I meant to say, the Scribes and Pha- 
risees !” 

I burst into a laugh, and the Captain was very angry. 
“ Mr. Bigot, can you set him right ? — you’re a churchman !” 

“ Oh, yes,” said little Conceit ; “ David, sir !” 

“ Psha ! psha ! hold your tongue, and keep your folly to 
yourself. Why, in the name of goodness, were they called 
Moses’ books, if Moses didn’t write them ? Lord Asskin, 
who was Solomon’s wife ?” 

“ The Queen — of — Sheba !” 

“ Hold your tongue ! Lord Pinchit, who was king of the 
Jews ?” 

His lordship’s grey eye twinkled a moment, and then he 
said, “ Hail ! king of the Jews, sir.” 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


153 


“ You good-for-nothing, stupid little creature ; did ever 
you look into a Bible in your life ? Lord Asskin, do you 
know where the Saviour was born ?” 

“ Oh ! yes, sir,” replied Asskin, brightening up at the 
idea of being able to answer one question out of four. 41 In 
the east !” 

“ Yes ; but where ?” 

That he could not say. “ Lord Pinchit — Mr. Bigot — - 
can either of you answer the question ?” 

“ Yes, sir ; — East Indies,” roared out both at once. 

“ Get out — get out of my cabin ! — get out before I take 
the horsewhip to you ! Stupid little ninnies ! you shall have 
your own money to take care of and go to the devil your 
own way.” So saying, and very much irritated, he com- 
pleted the act of their expulsion. Noble parents, before 
you send young lords to sea as officers, could you dispense 
to them a little nursery knowledge ? 

At day-break the next morning we discovered a suspicious 
sail to leeward ; and, having brought her to, we sent a boat’s 
crew on board to take her into Hydra, near which port we 
then were. John Roy was the midshipman of the boat, 
and, having fastened it astern, he ordered his men out 
and, placing them at the oars of the Greek vessel, they pro- 
ceeded to row her to the port. 

Captain Sawyer’s kind treatment of, and love for his men 
were proverbial ; and though he took care that the disci- 
pline should be sufficiently strict for smartness and efficiency, 
yet he always indulged his crew whenever it was possible. 
Of course they were attached to him ; and the service gained 
considerably on both sides. As soon, therefore, as his quick 
eye discerned his men fagging at the oars, he hailed. “ Mr. 
Roy, I wish you would make those lazy Greek scoundrels 
pull their own boat, instead of toiling my men to death in 
this sun !” 

“ Ay, ay, sir,” responded John ; “ but I thought we 
should never get in if we trusted to them.” And accord- 
ingly he placed the Greeks at the oars ; but they took so 
small a quantum of pains that the boat made no head- way. 

“ Pipe my gigs away,” said the Captain to the first-lieu- 
tenant, “ and send my coxswain here !” On the appearance 
of the last, he continued : “ Coxswain, put six stretchers in 


154 


CAVENDISH ; OR, 


the boat, one for every man, and two for myself : I’ll teach 
those fellows who they are playing with.” 

The orders were executed ; the captain shoved off, and 
we watched the result. No sooner did his boat touch the 
vessel’s side, than up he sprang, a stretcher in each hand, 
and commenced threshing the Greeks, right and left. 
“ You won’t row, won’t ye ?” — Whack — whack — went his 
weapons, making the Greeks skip round their deck with 
far more animation than the Pyrrhic dance could h°ve in- 
spired. While his boat’s crew, who had been instructed to 
follow his example, pretended to obey his orders by beating 
the rigging most unmercifully. 

Having given the Hellenes a thorough castigation, and 
seen that they applied themselves properly to the task set, 
he returned on board, remarking that the Greeks them- 
selves were all suaviter in modo , and that they therefore 
required a due admixture of the fortiter in re ; but even they 
might be made something of, if treated properly . 

After the lapse of a period which, however brief in reality, 
yet seemed of excessive duration to D’Aquilar and myself, 
we once more found ourselves entering that delightful spot, 
the Bay of Naples. The wind was gently blowing on our 
beam, as a few minutes before noon we gazed over the bows 
at the rippling curl beneath the beautiful forefoot of our 
Niobe, with all that glowing sensation within, which seems 
to say, “ Life has yet some scenes of freshness.” Mount 
Vesuvius, hke some enoimous demon, threw up his column 
of smoke, which the lazy winds allowed to reach almost to 
Heaven, before they broke its dark career. The ship is 
anchored — the quarantine laws obeyed, and the interroga- 
tories answered, and D’Aquilar and myself very soon walk- 
ing through Strada Reale, towards the villa of Lady 
Carleton. 

How much had passed since I was last here ! — how fre- 
quently was I tempted to turn back and go on board ! Had 

iny love for Letitia ? — could I dare to dwell upon the 

word ? Wandering in the labyrinth of my own thoughts 
and feelings, I staggered on till aroused by some remark 
from D’Aquilar. 

“ Perhaps we may surprise them in the garden,” said he, 
turning down towards the bower that Letitia was to have 


THK PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


155 


had fitted up, and where, unable to control myself, my 
actions had revealed a passion on which my lips were mute. 
The well remembered spot was utterly deserted, and over- 
grown with the wild luxuriance of the plants climbing 
around it. 

Revisiting this bower had greatly affected me ; I sat 
down. “ It is useless,” said I, starting up again ; “ who 
shall be able to conquer the world without, if he will not 
attempt even to subdue his own feelings within ? Away, 
ye phantoms of the mind !” 

Traces of neglect were visible throughout the garden ; 
and, full of conjecture as to the probable cause, we pursued 
our way towards the entrance-hall. — Drawn blinds, — shut- 
ters closed, and other evidences of the same description, 
here presented themselves. At length we observed a human 
being issue from the portal, and mount a grey thin horse. 
This was not Death, but merely his first mate — the doctor ; 
who had every appearance of a skeleton restored to anima- 
tion by galvanism and Sir Humphry Davy. 

He informed us that her ladyship had been dangerously 
ill for the last three months. 

We inquired for Letitia ; and when I found myself in the 
room, which all around bespoke as her favourite and hal- 
lowed haunt, the love of a former day rushed back to prove 
what I had lost, and to accuse me of infidelity : in which 
accusation, every feeling of heart and mind concurred. 

For some minutes I sat in deep musing ; my conscience 
smote me deeply. Had the past been within my power, 
how gladly would I have recalled it ! — but, alas ! as in all 
the virtuous resolutions which mortals make, it was too late. 
I felt I could not look on the beautiful face of one I had so 
sinned against with composure, were it not that her inno- 
cence would construe the blush of self-abasement into that 
of pleasure and surprise. 

As my reverie finished, I looked up, and saw before me, 
much to my surprise, a most forlorn-looking animal — pale 
— fitful — wiid. — “ What the devil dr>p<= *hat fellow do here ?” 
was my muttered exclamation. 1 am near-sighted; and, 
approaching somewhat nearer for a more determined stare, 

I found it was myself ! — looking into a pier glass. — With a 
deep sign my rebellious thoughts reverted to the ill-starred 


156 CAVENDTSH ; OR, 

marchesa : I turned, and lo ! before me stood, in all the 
loveliness of woe, my never-forgotten goddess, Letitia 
Carleton. Can a man love two women at once ? thought 
I. Unpardonable : but the interesting heresy — Safer is the 
Catholic who denies the pope, than the criminal who can 
moot such a question. — Her hair revelled in neglect, and a 
long tress, straying loose behind, gave her the look of a 
Grecian Pythoness. The eye was more bright and piercing, 
but less full ; the lip quivered ; the colour of her cheek had 
retired to a small circumscribed spot ; and the roundness 
and glowing outline of her figure had almost gone. 

1 was startled at the change. “ Ernest, how are you? 
What an unexpected pleasure to see you,” said she, shaking 
D’Aquilar by the hand. — “ Ah ! Mr. Cavendish, I hope you 
are well,” timidly proffering two of her fingers. As I re- 
tained them, they trembled excessively, (mine were little 
better,) while the blood rushed to her forehead, and she 
turned from a gaze she seemed unable to meet with self- 
possession. 

“ May I inquire how lady Carleton is ?” 

“ My dear mother has ” but Letitia could add no 

more ; and after vain and repeated efforts to reply to a 
question that inflicted all the pangs of anticipated orphan- 
age, a burst of tears proclaimed the sad but truest answer, 
and rising hastily, she left the room. — But Letitia stood 
before me ! 

In a few days we were more fortunate, and an expected 
change having taken place, we were ushered into an apart- 
ment where the invalid was lying on a couch. All the fresh- 
ness and bloom of beauty seemed to have concentrated 
their expiring rays into one focus. Her bland expression 
of melancholy, resignation and true kindness of heart already 
seemed to herald her separation from the striving throng of 
life. 

It was an unearthly look, that juxtaposition of white and 
crimson in the complexion of consumptive people. It is as 
if the mists of morn had oped some tender flower, which 
the meridian blaze of noon was scorching fast away. 

After a short interval Lady Carleton dismissed her daugh- 
ter, and taking a hand of D’Aquilar and myself in hers, re- 
minded us that as this would in all probability be our last 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


157 


meeting, she was anxious to say something relative to the 
orphan she must leave. I wished to utter some words of 
consolation, expressive of recovery, but they died upon my 
lip — I would have pledged, with every truth, an undying 
interest and care. — But that sacred charge belonged to 
another. I looked towards D’Aquilar — emotion had made 
him silent as myself. 

“To you my dear Ernest, I have given my last, sole 
earthly treasure, nor can I ever regret or recal the assent, 
I am aware you have not as yet made any proposals, and I 
can but approve of the delicacy that has actuated you. The 
extreme youth of both urges me to request, that however 
speedily you may become engaged, you will not be married 
until your minority is past. With regard to the navy, as 
you did not enter it with a view to remaining, it matters 
very little what rank you may have attained. Your united 
fortunes will be more than sufficient for your wants, and I 
feel happy under the idea that much enjoyment is yet in 
store for you. 

“ One thing alone gives me uneasiness ; your disposition 
is too easily swayed by the impulses of the moment. This 
may he productive of great misery ; let me beg of you to 
consider well every act of your life ; and you, my dear Ca- 
vendish, as you have considerable influence with you friend, 
and a less fiery temperament to lead you into error, do y do y 
use it for his advantage ; to you I commit the care of their 
mutual interests. Letitia’s guardian and uncle will, I know, 
do all he can for her well-being, but you are nearer D’Aquilar, 
and it is for him I sometimes tremble.” 

We promised implicit respect to her requests, and drew 
happy omens of her future health, from the transient 
strength the day had brought. Thinking any further con- 
versation might be injurious, we were about to withdraw, 
when the window, which had been left unfastened, flew 
open. The morning had been calm and clear, but the siroc 
having suddenly sprung up, that angel of death had pene- 
trated into the room on the instant of the window giving 
way. 

I rose immediately to remedy the accident ; and when I 
returned to the sofa, found the sudden admission of fresh air 
had brought on a fit of coughing. For an instant, even the 


CAVENDISH J OR, 


358 

scarlet spot had faded from the face of the still beauteous 
invalid ; the ensanguined torrent however that in the ago- 
nized exertion of the moment suddenly found its way to 
light from the hidden recesses where it had flowed before, 
announced to our horror and despair ! — the rupture of a 
blood-vessel ! 

“ What shall I do, Cavendish ? ring the bell — ring the 
bell !” implored D’Aquilar. 

“ Stay — be calm if it be possible — that will bring in Le- 
titia, and she is in no way fitted to encounter this scene. 
You support the head while I leave the room for assistance. ” 
It would seem that the fate which afflicts, though it will not 
avert the evil, yet more strangely delights in placing the 
% remedies at hand. The first person I met was the physi- 
cian. I briefly related what had happened, and, in a low 
voice, he assured me all was over. On entering the cham- 
ber we found D’Aquilar still at his post. The doctor took 
his patient’s pulse, but spoke not; and placing his hand over 
the region of the heart, one last convulsive gasp escaped, 
and with it passed away the suffering spirit so long and 
sorely tried. 

A slight and agonised consultation was held. We agreed 
that the physician would be the most proper person to inti- 
mate the final catastrophe to the bereaved daughter ; and 
feeling that we could render neither service nor consolation, 
we departed. 

The king, alas ! the king ; and also the king’s service ! 
he never considers the private dilemmas of his officers ; and 
grieved as D’Aquilar and myself were, we had no alternative 
but submission to our fate, when, at five the next morning, 
the boatswain’s rude pipe woke us from our slumber with 
“ All hands, up anchor.” Much did I pray that some 
order, whim, caprice, or other favouring chance of fortune, 
or the captain, might take us into Palermo ; but, alas ! on 
the flowing gale directed us without reprieve ; and while 
bearing us through the Strait of Messina afforded us an op- 
portunity of noticing, that instead of the formerly much- 
dreaded Scylla and Charybdis, a paltry agitation of the 
water, unable to sink a walnut-sliell, is all that now remains 
of its ancient formidable dangers. 

We now returned to our old station in the Arches of Pe- 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


159 

lago, as the sailors term the Archipelago, a slight description 
of which we shall in due time attain. For who could alto- 
gether forbear to linger over 

The isles of Greece ! the isles of Greece 
Where burning Sappho loved and sung. 

Without detaining the reader over the immaterial trans- 
actions, in which we were now engaged, suffice it to say, 
that in the year of grace one thousand eight hundred and 
twenty-six, after being long noted as one of the most crack 
ships on the station, a letter written in the most handsome 
terms was received by Captain Sawyer, from the admiral, 

signifying that his Majesty’s ship had come out to 

relieve us, and we were now at liberty to return to Eng- 
land. 

Never looked the sky so bright, nor the sea so full of 
beauty, as when we weighed our anchor and spread our 
canvass to proceed to Malta ! 


CHAPTER XIX. 

In bitterest gall of truth 

I’ve dipp’d my pen of steel, 

That hearts untouched with ruth 
Its sternest force may feel. 

Where is the rose without a thorn ? To counterbalance 
our joys at the prospect of returning to old England, we 
had to undergo many days’ quarantine ; but pratique came, 
with leave to go ashore. 

The harbour of Malta contained at this time but very few 
men- of- war, and those of that paltry, pitiful class, the diving 
ducks, alias ten-gun brigs. Not among these may we 
reckon the Talthorpe : mind you, reader, the Talthorpe — 
venerabile nomen ! Oh, no ! she was an eight-and- twenty- 
gun frigate — I need not say a very small one ; and the 
sooner such ships are abolished the better. However, this 
said vessel, commanded by the Honourable Frederick Saw- 
yer, Captain Robert’s brother, was now refitting at The 
Lofts ; and as, in future, we shall have every thing to do 
with her, I beg leave to draw your particular attention here- 
unto. 


60 cavendish; or, 

We must now take a long farewell of the Honourable 
.Robert Cassilis Sawyer. I have not brought him much 
before you, because his rays would have eclipsed mine : in 
other words, if the captain had always been on the stage, 
the midshipman, Manvers Cavendish, could no longer have 
been the hero ; and I therefore inform thee, lest thou 
shouldst not have found it out, that he was a generous man, 
an unflinching friend, a bitter foe, and a brave and talented 
officer ; nor can we fail to regret that a being who united 
these virtues should ever have allowed the impulse of the 
moment to lead him toward any line of conduct which 
cooler thoughts would have led him to avoid. There is an 
alloy of mortality in us all. To me he was ever kind and 
considerate. I speak of men but as I find them : to friend- 
ship I yield my warmest wishes, to enmity my most un- 
ceasing and determined opposition. The former (friend- 
ship) is for Captain Sawyer ; the latter, perhaps, for you, 

reader, if you be , or , or , and many 

others ; but may-be you are neither. Allow me, therefore, 
to grasp your hand and proceed. 

The morning after our receiving pratique, Captain Robert 

Sawyer invited me to breakfast with him at *s hotel ; 

and, having entered his room at ten, I found myself and a 
post-captain of the latest regime sitting at the table. 

“ Frederick,” said he, addressing the latter, “ this is one 
of my youngsters. Cavendish, this is my brother. Captain 
Frederick Sawyer. I believe you were at Palermo when 
my brother paid me a visit on board the Niobe.” 

We bowed : I confirmed his belief that we had never met ; 
and, sitting down, we proceeded to draw our mutual in- 
ferences from the exterior. 

No lady is e’er ogled by her lover — 

Horse by a black-leg — broad-cloth by a tailor — 

Fee by a counsel — felon by a jailor, 

As is a captain by his future middy. 

“ If his soul has any union with his body,” thought I, 
after a silent rumination, “ it should bear the stamp of gen- 
tility upon it ; so that, in whatever extremities of contact 
we may be placed, I may yet look for the suffrance and 
urbanity which such a feeling affords. That eye, that eye — 
what does that eye say ? It says, I think, * don't tread on 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


161 

my toes V Oh ! yes, clearly, that ’s it. And that mouth, 
that mouth ? — The turn of the upper lip speaks somewhat 
of reserve ; the corners show kindness of heart. And the 
eyebrows ? — Evidently there is some expression of quick 
feeling in them. His dress ? — Good ; quite the simplex 
munclitiis. His whole bearing ? — Plainly hints that he 
knows his own station, and the way to uphold it ; and 
thinks with Chesterfield, that a genteel carriage and deport- 
ment form a desirable passport any where. Then, on the 
whole ? — A character that must be delicately approached ; 
and, in that case, easily rendered a compatible, as the 
learned HSsculapians say.” 

“ Well, Cavendish, are you glad at the chance of getting 
home again ?” demanded Captain Robert. 

“ Yes, sir, very ; I feel no slight longings to behold our 
chalky cliffs once more.” 

"I take it, young man, you want to have a run in town 
again.” 

“ No bad thing, sir, after three years’ fasting on salt 
horse, ’midst sun-burnt nations. I have almost forgotten 
the cerulean tint of a blue eye, so long is it since I have 
seen one.” 

“ Blue eyes, eh ? So your thoughts run ” 

“ Somewhat, sir. Blue eyes, malt liquor, and parlia- 
mentary squabbles, are things we sadly want out here ; and 
certes, but they make an ‘ English season pass,’ not forget- 
ting a wife sold at appraisement (sometimes a daughter) for 
a few thousands.” 

“ Ha, ha ! Master Man vers, they do not manage things 

so in Palermo, eh ? although blue eyes were out of the 

question — so I am told.” 

I thought of the poor marchesa, the only dark orbs I had 
ever loved in my life ; but then they were such eyes ! 

“ Well, never mind, Cavendish, you need not look so sad 
on the subject ; you keep a secret monstrous well, though 
some ruffians did attempt to cut it out of you.” 

“ Sad, sir, I look sad ? Why ? What were we talking 
about ? — the want of squabbles ’midst these brainless people ; 
that cannot be a sad subject, because, after all, a quarrel is 
not a quarrel, but merely a dash of Cayenne pepper to 
season this our stupid curry of a life, where half mankind, 

M 


162 CAVENDISH, OR, 

from liver and the spleen, are jaundiced bevond all 
doubt.” 

“ Frederick, this is our laughing philosopher. Caven- 
dish, I cannot let you sail in the Niobe ; I see you are not 
yet sufficiently tanned ; you must stay out till my brother 
goes home. Frederick, since he seems to be so fond of 
commotion, give a standing order to your first lieutenant to 
let him be mast-headed twice a-week, that will serve him 
instead of a London season. But what say you to remain- 
ing out in the Talthorpe ?” 

I knew this was coming, and was therefore prepared to 
accede, of course. “ If you speak seriously, sir, and Cap- 
tain Frederick honours me so far as to make the choice, I 
cannot but feel most happy.” 

“ Agreed, then. Frederick, what say you ?” 

“ I have already said it will give me much pleasure.” 

“ Cavendish, you will have your baggage in The Lofts,* 
where my brother’s ship is, by this time to-morrow,” said 
Captain Sawyer, with whom Napoleon’s motto was a stan- 
dard rule. Let decision and execution be the same, and, 
though success may not always follow, defeat is oftimes left 
behind. 

In addition to myself, John Roy, Thread, and Regent, 
had determined to join the Talthorpe ; Pinchit also had 
some ideas on the subject ; but finding the apron- string too 
strong to be broken as yet, deferred doing so till he had 
been home and enjoyed “ a good blow-out,” as he elegantly 
phrased the intended festivities in honour of his idol. 

On arriving at The Lofts, we found the officers and men 
very busily employed in careening the ship, which, on her 
passage out from England, had taken a fancy for pearl- 
fishing, in pursuit of which amusement she struck her “fore- 
foot.” 

The first thing on board is to take care of yourself ; none 
others do it for you ; and having seen my chest, et ccetera, 
safely deposited, I returned to make my observations on my 
future brother officers, for which I do sometimes use a mag- 
nifying glass, but never the inverted tube . f 

“ I presume, sir, you are about to join us from the Niobe ?” 
said a midshipman. 

* “ The Lofts,” — barracks, at Malta, for seamen, 
f An instrument used for taking observations. 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 163 

I bowed. ‘"Your presumption has a right basis. Do 
you intend to build much upon it ?" 

“ Faith, no ; I thought of running up an off-hand struc- 
ture of acquaintance, which, though slight, might prove 
more lucky than the Brunswick theatre, since I hope its fall 
will not crush the builders." 

“ Well, suppose in order to lay the foundation-stone, you 
officiate as master of the ceremonies, and give me a descrip- 
tion of all these animals buzzing about.' * 

“Ah, suppose I do." 

“Yes, you have talk enough for any Bath or Cheltenham 
coxcomb. Nay, never be offended ; I see you admire the 
style of conversation denominated free and easy." 

“ Right ; thou judgest character well : but we lose time, 
circumspice . You see that man of six -feet- ten, cadaverous 
in look, and scant in understanding : nay, laugh not — no 
allusion to those apologies for pantaloons, reaching up to 
his knees, over his calfless spindles, for you see all the calf 
is contained in his head , while all his brains lie in his legs. 
Whatever sort of a dancing-master he might have made, he 
never w r as fit for a first-lieutenant, which office he holds here. 
His name is John Stretcher , a weak fool by nature, a tyrant 
by habit and education. He was Captain Tyrenny s first- 
lieutenant, in H. M. S. Teaze; they were both broken for 
inhumanly flogging some man, and for other acts of the 
same stamp ; and he now stands there, a living disgrace to 
those who dared to reinstate him. The usual denomination 
that we know him by, is Judas Iscariot, who betrayed his 
master. His chief amusement lies in cheating the seamen 
out of the time the captain allows them for dinner, poisoning 
the ear of his superior with falsehood, and making himself, 
by tyranny and abuse, a mark for the scorn and hatred of 
his inferiors. That active little man, who goes bustling 
about as though smartness for duty consisted in noise, and 
a talent for command in aptness for abuse, is Benjamin 
Cantall. Here, on our right, is lieutenant Straw, as 
worthless a straw as was ever threshed by a flail, or burnt 
as stubble. 

“That ninny yonder, for you cannot rightly designate 
him a man, who stands with his sightless eye convulsed, 
and mouth distended with laughter at some folly of his own, 

m 2 


CAVENDISH ; OR 


164 

is pandering to the humour of the other — pandering to the 
humour of a straw ! Fancy what a being ! That demi- 
deformity in body and mind, is the schoolmaster ; his name 
is Ducabore, and a confounded bore he is. But stay, stay ; 
I like to illustrate descriptive history by poetical verisimili- 
tude ; and, therefore, as all those four have, in some respects, 
the same diabolical points common to each, and as all 
belong to the reptile order, I will, with your leave, class 
them together. 

44 First,” counting on the ends of his fingers, 44 behold 
John Stretcher, first-lieutenant ; he is the double-tongued 
and deadly serpent, anguis in herbd, that creeps in the long 
grass, stealing upon you unawares, and while, in seeming 
playfulness, licking your hand, instils a venom into your 
flesh, that stings you to the very soul. Yet should you, 
unawares, but tread upon his tail, all pretence is thrown 
aside, and the reptile 4 hurls at once his venom and his 
strength.' 

44 We next come to Robert Straw, the second-lieutenant : 
he is the toad, as you may see, ugly, bloated, and poisonous, 
without even the redeeming quality of 4 wearing a precious 
jewel in his head.' Like the prototype I have given, his 
chief occupation is being abroad in his element at nightfall, 
where in his croaking at the deeds of others, he has been 
seldom equalled — never surpassed. Ignorant in the extreme, 
vulgar beyond conception, presuming past forbearance, it 
requires two faces to wear the numerous and revolting 
attributes this thi .esses. But Nature, in her perfec- 
tion, has kindly met iiis extremities even here, and I grieve 
for my country to say it, there never was yet a more deceit- 
ful double-dealing false Scot, than Bob Straw. 

44 Ducabore, the schoolmaster, is at once, you perceive, 
the slow-worm ; insidious, artful, and blind — at least of one 
eye ; monstr horrend ’ informe , cui lumen ademptum — which 
loss, together with his fore- teeth, now absent without leave, 
report kindly rumours to have happened in a row at Oxford, 
where it is supposed he was one of the menials. I see by 
your expression you like not the visitation of the man with 
his infirmities ; but in very truth, like the most of us, I 
hate him with a hate as unmixed and undiluted as ever was 
borne by one of Samuel Johnson’s best haters— why, you 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


165 

shall know hereafter. But to proceed with his character. 
A reclaimed and rectified scape-grace, he pretends to out- 
ward religion and morality ; a spy upon the unguarded 
words of the youngsters, which he fails not to aggravate to the 
captain : he makes no scruple to drink and swear in a public 
cafe . Emerged from some situation of low obscurity, he 
lords it unfeelingly over those whom fortune has temporarily 
placed in his power, and who are in reality as far above him 
as the stars above the cloud that obscures their brightness. 
Withal, no character in power is too intellectually low for 
Ducabore to cringe at his feet, and willingly would he 
sweep the floor of Pandemonium for a smile from the arch- 
fiend’s face. 

“ Some degrees less in baseness is Cantall, L.L.B., a title 
conferred on him, I have been told, in a former ship, being 
the abbreviation of Little Lying Ben — him I would liken to a 
chameleon, content to creep in the filth of servility, in order to 
arrive at the precarious sunshine of favour. His opinions, 
ideas, sentiments, and actions, are equally varied, equally 
undefined. His foibles he may tell you are marked ; what 
great characters are not ? His imagination is so excessive, 
that he lives in a world of mist and ideality completely his 
own, as the French would say, ‘ il brodie ,’ which, being 
interpreted in the nautical vernacular, means, 4 he lies like a 
tooth- drawer,’ — forgive my euphuism ; but he is a witty 
Irishman ; and as his power, and consequently its ill effects, 
are chiefly confined to those beneath him, in his particular 
line as master, we, who never feel it, regard it not ; but I 
dislike the man, and wish not to sell you prejudices se- 
cond-hand. 

44 And now for the point in which these four agree, and 
in which I trace the resemblance. Ducabore acquired the 
knowledge at some Sunday-school, that Truth’s abode was 
at the bottom of a well. This odd fact in natural history 
he communicated to the other three, and they all agreed 
that ever since the days of Rachael, water- drawing was 
held to be fatiguing work, ergo they resolved that Truth 
might lie there and vegetate like a subaqueous zoophyte. 
But Ducabore, whose curiosity is excessive, venturing one 
day to peer down into her habitation, Truth suddenly raised 


1 66 cavendish; or, 

her head up and put his eye out. As Gray says of Mil- 
ton — 

He saw : but, blasted with excess of light 

Closed his eye in endless night. 

Frightened at the consequences of his temerity, the others 
have now doubly resolved to avoid all collision. But may- 
be my loquacity tires ?” 

“ If your loquacity tires not, your information rather 
frightens ; for what is a man to do, surrounded by such a 
set as you describe ?” 

“ Ah ! what, indeed ? why, if he acts honourably and 
uprightly, without truckling to creatures whom his soul 
despises and abhors, the very first false step that youthful 
thoughtlessness or folly leads him to take, will bring their 
forces down upon him, and crush him to the dust. Where- 
as, if he basely condescends to bend a servile knee, all 
respect for himself must vanish.” 

“ I cannot say I admire your alternative ; a very comfort- 
able prospect, truly. But who is he with such a dark, ex- 
pressive, and handsome countenance ? surely he does not 
belong to the junta you have just named ?” 

“ He ! no — Heaven forbid ! The moon, fresh-bursting 
from the lowering heavens, is not more brilliantly contrasted 
with the darkness around, than he with these low hirelings. 
Behold him well; such is the stuff that heroes are, or 
should be, made of ; his very mien would make a coward 
turn to fight again. Brave, cool, determined, and highly 
talented withal, he pursues his purpose uninfluenced by the 
sanguine expectations which others might form. At once 
the deep-read scholar, linguist, mathematician, courtier, 
seaman, officer, and friend — the gentleman shines out in 
each. If there be justice to reward, and a theatre to dis- 
play his talents, that man will one day be leading his 
country’s fleets to glory and to fame — I stake my know- 
ledge of the human character upon the future name and 
success of George Nerveit Willstand, — if fate but grant 
him life and opportunity. The only point, perhaps, in 
which he may be wanting, is ambition. He may, never- 
theless, be animated by this passion, and be too prudent to 
show it. But be assured, there is that within him can not 
only render it laudable, but eminently useful to his country.” 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


167 

“ I see you can deal in encomiums as well as in the con- 
trary ; I imagined by your calling yourself a North- Briton, 
that you might be a cousin of Jeffrey’s.” 

“ No, sir, no, I merely ‘ give the palm where justice 
points it due.’ ” 

“ Never will do another good-natured action as long as 
I live — never will, by Jove !” exclaimed a mid, who came 
hopping along on each big stone that lay in his path, as if 
his dignity would be outraged by walking the ground like 
other people. He wore on his head a large Leghorn hat, 
the brim of which, half severed from the crown, streamed 
wildly down his back ; the sleeve of his jacket had been torn 
off and pinned on again, while at the aperture protruded 
part of a blue-striped shirt ; the patch on his collar, for want 
of pipe-clay, was brown, and his hands clasped a huge tele- 
scope, cased in black leather, nearly as tall as himself. 

“ Holloa, Jennings, what may be the matter now ?” said 
my nautical Asmodeus. 

“ Matter! — never will do — no, I never will do another 
good-natured action as long as I live. There’s that old 
rascal, that devil’s high-priest, Judas Iscariot, sent me in a 
boat to the dock-yard to get some scrapers ground, and told 
me to wait at my discretion for some of those Smvtch- 
caulkers — such an insult ! I had no idea of it, and directly 
after they were finished I came away. I wait for those 
dirty ragamuffins ? such a good-looking fellow as myself?” 

I looked in the speaker’s face at these last words, and 
certainly there was considerable expression of acuteness ; 
but Jennings, I grieve to say, the sun had wooed thy cheek 
with too “ amorous a clutch,” to leave much beauty — how- 
ever, it was a face that pleased me. 

“ D your blood, Mr. Jennings !” said old Judas, 

joining, “ I thought I told you to superintend the second 
gang of the starboard watch ?” 

“ And am I not doing so, sir ?” said Jennings, after some 
hesitation, trying to turn it off ; “ is not this the worst gang 
in the ship ?” pointing to the knot that had gradually as- 
sembled round us. 

But Judas had neither perception nor taste for wit, and 
this sally only provoked him more. 

" Mount that capstan, sir, and let the people see you 


168 CAVENDISH ; OR, 

make a fool of yourself/’ said he, pointing to a capstan 
near. Jennings silently stared in his first-lieutenant’s face. 
“ I say, sir, get up there and make a fool of yourself.” 

“ Thank you, sir,' I had rather not.” 

“ Then go to your quarters, and consider yourself under 
arrest.” 

“ Never do another good-natured action as long as Ilive. 
I merely stayed five minutes over my time, when this ship 

was fitting out in to help a marine who was drowns 

ing, and got mast-headed five hours for it ; never do an- 
other good out of the way. you brute,” kicking an un- 

fortunate dog, and at the same time looking into the face 
of Judas, who stood directly in the way. 

The first-lieutenant sullenly moved aside, with thunder in 
his looks, while the whole of us burst into laughter. “ Let 
us make sail out of this,” said my acquaintance, turning to 
another spot. “ The individual you see there is Pruning, 
the assistant- surgeon — an unobtrusive, kind fellow. That 
gentleman is Twyndle, our master of the ceremonies ; he 
has but lately joined ; you may take him as a specimen of a 
polished, past- midshipman. In our own berth we are com- 
paratively lucky ; he is one of the principals, and his gene- 
rosity and good-nature are excessive.” 

“ Who may that youngster be ?” I inquired ; “that cynic 
philosopher in embryo, leaning against the pillar, and looking 
on the scene around as though he had a fit of the heart- 
burn.” 

“ Oh, that is Neville, remarkable, they say, for some ten- 
dency to be combative ; but that I believe is merely owing 
to circumstances, which, if removed, he would not prove less 
sociable than ourselves, being either stricken with the afflic- 
tion of dyspepsia, or something near it, I don’t know which ; 
thereby enjoying the right of being very miserable, and full 
of bitterness sometimes. At this present moment we both 
happen to be in disgrace ; for one day, during our passage 
out from England, Ducabore wanted to commit some piece 
of unwarrantable tyranny, to which Neville refused to sub- 
mit,, and told his worthy instructor some very home truths. 
The pedagogue never forgave him, and waited only for an 
opportunity of crushing his feeble opponent ; for what can 
be expected from a boy of thirteen, when opposed to an art- 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


169 


ful cockney of six-and-twenty, finished off with the last 
touches of cunning and duplicity among the scouts at Ox- 
ford ? Three weeks since, the long-wished-for moment 
presented itself ; we committed some piece of unguarded 
folly, and Ducabore, seizing the opportunity, reported us to 
the captain. Both being equally implicated, we were equal- 
ly put under the ban of excommunication, which consists in 
the stoppage of leave to go ashore, and of our pocket- 
money, besides the captain’s high displeasure ; who, on the 
report being made to him, could not have treated the of- 
fenders less severely, without leaving a road open to the re- 
commission of the offence. For my part I regret it, but 
nothing in life is worth caring for ; besides, I am about to 
leave the ship : Neville has to remain in her ; his feelings 
may be stronger and more smothered, and he is now brood- 
ing over the moment when he will be able to hurl back upon 
his antagonist the odium he has cast.” 

“ Oh, then,” I remarked, “ the fellow is fit for some- 
thing.” 

“ Really, I can’t say ; but I’ll ask him,” replied my in- 
formant ; and, before I could prevent his doing so, he ex- 
claimed, ‘ I say, Neville, your new messmate, Mr. Cavendish, 
wishes to know if you are fit for any thing.” 

“ Fit, fit !” said he, starting from his reverie, “ did you 
say fit ? Oh, fit for any thing ; yes, certainly ; when last 
in practice I was a dead shot — much at his service — also 
at yours.” 

" I wish, sir,” said I, to my friend of the morning, “ you 
had been less quick ; I like not having enemies made 
ready at hand in that style.” 

“You need never trouble yourself about that ; crack a 
joke with him, and he is your friend directly. An odd 
being ; see what answer he gives that beggar now suppli- 
cating him for a halfpenny. I doubt if the boy is worth so 
much, since his pocket-money is stopped.” 

“Me paure, Signor , nix mangarre ; my father dead in 
Egypt, my mother died of the plague,” said the little 
Maltese boy, in a mixture of Arabic, French, Italian, and 
English, holding out his hand to the youngster for some do- 
nation. 

“ What, beg to me, boy? how’s that? Nix mangerre 


170 


CAVENDISH ; OR, 

— to me — stuffed brain and empty pockets,” turning them 
inside out. 44 Gome, my boy, do you do the same, and see 
which is the greatest beggar of the two — why, I am, to 
be sure. Come, we are, or should be, fellows,” and, lean- 
ing on the beggar, he was lounging towards the gate of 
entrance. 

44 Stop, sir,” said the sentry, lowering his musket, 4 4 you 
cannot go into the town.” 

44 Not go, eh ? There, little fellow, while you complain 
of beggary alone, behold I, your fancied better, am both a 
beggar and a slave. Let that teach thee philosophy — but 
ask me twenty years hence what I am, and then — what 
then ? Can you tell me ? No ; nor I either — so get out 
of this ; you have only to think that you are better off than 
I am, and you will be so.” 


CHAPTER XX. 

The surgeon’s a lazy land-lubber, 

The carpenter can’t fish a mast ; 

The gunner’s a devil of a bubber, 

The master can’t steer if he’s asked ; 

The lieutenants conceit are all wrapt in, 

The mates scarcely merit their flip, 

And scarcely a soul but the captain 

Knows the stem from the stern of the ship. Dibdin. 

If sober men but see one candle, 

Dogs who are drunk see two for scandal. 

Translation from Horace. 

44 Are you fond of snipe-shooting ?” inquired my Plu- 
tarch, in continuance. 

“ I have no eyesight for that,” I replied ; 44 1 hate 
spectacles.” 

44 Had you been inclined that way, yonder is your 
quarry.” 

44 Where ?” 

44 Do you see that stumpy, broad-faced animal, in the 
shape of a midshipman, in whose wide jaws a sepulchre 
doth yawn, which he fondly deems is only a mouth ?” 

44 1 observe him.” 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


171 

“ Well, his name is Antic Snipe Humbug, son of Admiral 
Grim Emmet Humbug, heir to the noted baronetcy so 
called. I take it for granted that every one is aware of the 
notability and amiability of the Humbug family. For a long 
period that respectable name was much connected with the 
control of the navy ; so many of its branches obtained place 
in the department, that it was commonly styled a ‘ humbug 
administration from beginning to end;' till at length the 
restless Earl St. Vitus terminated its career, by decreeing it 
a place on the retired list of post-captains — sorely against 
its will. However, this hopeful lad, Snipe, is the eldest son. 
You may perceive he has no bill (except when he gives 
dinners) ; but he has more than a substitute — a mouth 
from ear to ear, with feelings of meanness and covetous- 
ness in proportion. The rest of his character is too vapid 
and tasteless to deserve further remark, if we except the 
malice he possesses in lieu of talent, and for wit, two rows 
of horses* teeth. If you were to put your finger into his 
mouth, no doubt he would bite hard. 

“ Nearer to us stands little Goldsmith, kind-hearted, 
gentle, and courageous in the extreme ; but too weak, I 
fear, in constitution for our profession. Yonder is good- 
natured Jack Hearty, and next to him is his friend, George 
Green ; I believe you had the latter*s brother, Frederick 
Green, in the Niobe ?’* 

“ Yes, we had. What manner of man may the Honour- 
able George be ?*’ 

“ A chip of the old block, as we say ; a lad of talent and 
good-nature, rather fond of teasing, it may be — but that he 
inherits from the leader of the opposition — possibly a little 
capricious, but one that you could hardly help liking. Here 
we have JDoykes, a straightforward honest fellow. You 
already know the clerk ; and I have now, I believe, ac- 
quitted myself of my task. You have had sketches of almost 
all your future messmates. I do not pretend to finish the 
portraits, since a few shades of sepia, with the lights thrown 
in, give all the expressions I require.” 

“ Positively, sir, I feel very much indebted to you, and 
accordingly tender you my thanks,* * I replied ; but, after 
this enumeration, * Pray tell me, sir, whose dog are you ?* 
as Pope says.** 


172 cavendish; or, 

Nothing will give me greater pleasure. My modesty has 
hitherto prevented me from saying anything on the subject ; 
but, since you ask, be it known to you that my name is 
Charles Pug. I arrived here in the Talthorpe ; but finding 
the climate too sultry, and the ship too hot for my health, I 
am going to return to England in the Niobe. I have some 
good-nature, and am rather sharp ; I shine most on a short 
acquaintance, being, on the whole, a heartless sort of animal. 
I am a charity schoolboy, educated in the bare-poll -and-yel- 
low-shank institution. My father is a peter-boat fisherman ; 
my patron, Sir William Guttledish ; and I have the impu- 
dence to ape the gentleman.” 

“ Well,” thought I, as this fellow proceeded, with the 
greatest truth, to dish himself up, after the same manner in 
which he had served the others, “ this is certainly the Non- 
pareil that I have got into by hazard. Did ever any one 
meet with such a queer set of oddities ?” 

“ Mr. Cavendish, I believe,” said Green, bowing. “My 
brother,” he continued, “ had the pleasure of being your 
messmate in the Niobe.” 

“ Yes,” I replied, “ I had that honour ;” and we ram- 
bled on in conversation till we stumbled upon the subject of 
fever. 

“ Ah, fever, a dreadful thing !” said the master, who was 
standing close at hand. “ When I was a young man, Mr. 
Cavendish, I had the most alarming fever you can possibly 
conceive.” Here Green half closed his eye at me, as much 
as to say, “hear, hear !” “ Yes, sir, all the faculty were 

astounded at me — from this very arm the surgeons took no 
less than sixty ounces of blood a-day for three weeks.” 

“ So much as that, Mr. Cantall ?” said Green. “ Why, 
consider, that is within two pints of ten gallons ; surely you 
mistake.” 

“ Mistake ! no mistake. I tell you sixty ounces of blood 
every day from this very arm (don’t pretend to know the 
exact number of gallons) — show you the hole if you like,” 
holding up the rifled member, and offering to strip up the 
sleeve ; “ why, sir, would you believe it ?” 

“ Decidedly not,” said Green. 

But the master went on without noticing this denial. 
“ The thermometer was down at sixteen ; snow on the 


THE PATRICIAN AT $EA. 173 

roof of the house three feet five inches thick ; three rooms 
between me and the roof, and yet, sir, the heat generated by 
my fever not only melted the snow on the roof of my lodg- 
ings, but half of the snow on those adjoining ; and had it 
not been for the providential circumstance of the snow, they 
must have had recourse to the fire-engine, and damped the 
outside of my dwelling, to prevent its taking fire — and why 
not ?” he demanded, seeing the incredulous looks of Green 
and myself. 

“ My idea of the story is this, Mr. Cantall,” said Green ; 
“ that all the snow must have fallen since I last heard the 
tale ; for, at that time, you said it took place on board the 
Amethyst, in Port Royal, Jamaica.” 

“Oh, no, Green, my dear fellow ” 

“ Yes, ves, my dear fellow ; and you made the ship so hot 
that all the fresh water inside boiled out of the tanks in the 
hold, and the salt water outside frizzled and bubbled, till the 
ganders ashore mistook you for a steam-boat.” 

“ Oh, no, Green ; no, you mistake. It happened at 
Halifax — you mistake.” 

“ Mistake ; no mistake, I’m positive ; for even then it 

put my credulity on the stretch, but now ” 

“ Mr. Green, I have to tell you this — I am not to be 

catechised by you. I may relate a tale ” 

“ Relate a tale ? — oh ! certainly ; or tell a story, if ,s 

But the master found he could gain very little credence 
from me, and therefore departed in a hurry. 

On repairing to the dinner- table, I found that worthy, 
fat Bob Straw, in the midst of the midshipmen, disgustingly 
familiar with all around. It was one of his common prac- 
tices, alias nuisances, to invite himself at all hours and 
seasons into the gentlemen’s mess.” The conversation 

turning on Lady D ’s running away, D’jcabore seemed 

quite at home. 

“ Lady D ? Oh ! yes, I knew her mother’s cousin’s 

aunt very well indeed ; an old tabby, resides No. — , Port- 
land Place. Her daughter, by first marriage, ran off with 
Jier father’s butler’s third nephew — did not know much of 
him, except by sight — generally considered a bad match — 
family interest used to get him a commission in the Guards ; 


174 


CAVENDISH ; OR, 

but happening to put his salt on the left-hand side of his 
plate, and call for horse-radish- vinegar in plain English, why 
he slipped down into the marines ! — supposed to be related, 
by some slight faux-pas, to the Duke of Noodlebrains — his 
grace an intimate friend of mine ! — he never knew a word 
of more than three syllables — one day sent for his physician, 
while reading a bulletin of the king's health, to inquire the 

meaning of expectoration — married only twice — and then 
>> 

“ Pray, sir," I inquired, seeing that there was no end to 
this sort of nonsense, “ do you find Burke's or Debrett's 
peerage the easiest to get by heart ?" 

“ Peerage, my dear fellow !" interrupted John Roy ; 
“ don’t you recollect his features ? — the twopenny postman 
in Portman Square !" 

Ducabore was silenced and annoyed by the laugh which 
followed this sally, which subsequent experience has taught 
me was a lucky thing, since this was his most favourite sub- 
ject on which to dilate ; showing in this way, if no other, 
his considerable knowledge as a man of letters. 

On Sunday, the prayers being over, the sage, or school- 
master, determined to visit the shore, which was as yet 
almost new to him. Of course the youngsters were desi- 
rous of seeing the place, hut they were too young to be trusted 
alone ; and two of them were therefore placed under charge 
of the schoolmaster, with orders to be particularly careful 
of their conduct, also of their morals ; and now let us see 
how ably he fulfilled the charge. 

The two boys selected were, little Goldsmith, whose age 
might be barely fourteen, and Jack Hearty, six, or perhaps nine 
months his senior. The first place to which they bent theii 
steps was Joe MicalifFs, one of the principal cafes in the 
island, in Strada Theatro. Here he met an old friend, whom 
he introduced to the youngsters under his charge, as his 
particular acquaintance, and a special good fellow. Then 
turning to the man who waited — “ Micaliff, let me have a 
bottle of ginger-beer ; mind that it is well iced for an hour ! 
Youngsters, what will you take — an ice ? Ah ! very well ; 
eat it quickly, and we will take a walk." 

In an hour he returned, drank his ginger-beer, discussed 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


175 

a few other trifles, and then asked his young companions 
what they next wished to have ? Wine, was the reply. 
Kind in the extreme, their Mentor consented, and some 
sweet Malaga made its appearance. For the quantity I 
will not vouch ; I merely confine myself to the effects pro- 
duced. Goldsmith and Hearty were not long in perceiving 
that, by a slight transposition, the spirit divine had now 
become the spirit di vino ; in short, he, whose duty it was to 
guard them from committing themselves, had made rapid 
approaches towards a state of intoxication ! 

Treading on each other’s toes, they begged he would help 
himself, and there would be enough for all. “ Or, if not. 
Hearty, there’s plenty more where this came from,” said 
the sage. “ Here’s to ’e. Goldsmith ! eh. Hearty — 
(hiccup.)” 

“ Certainly, Ducabore, (hiccup,)” replied Hearty,” mock- 
ing him. 

“Oh! Mr. Hearty, (hiccup,) how have you forgotten 
yourself! — you’re drunk !” said Ducabore, seeing himself 
in the other, veluti in speculum . 

“ Oh ! no. I’m not, sir.” 

“ I say — you — are (hiccup). Come — you shan’t stay* 

on shore any longer — I — shall get the blame — of it all !” 

“ Well, then, sir. I’ll just take a little more wine.” 

*' Oh ! no, (hiccup) — I can allow you — to do no such 
thing — you’re drunk enough already. Sooner than — you 
should do — such a thing — I’d rather drink it myself,” said 
the worthy, finishing the contents of the bottle. 

“ I say, Goldsmith, isn’t he tipsy ?” 

“ No,” said Goldsmith, “ I don’t see it.” 

“ Oh ! you (hiccup) stupid little fool, you’re drunk too ! 
Oh ! what excuse shall I make to — (hiccup) the captain ? 
Come, you shall go on board directly : — come here , or you 
will be tumbling down stairs ;” reeling about the room ; 
then, placing his hands on their shoulders for support, un- 
der the pretence of guiding them, descended. 

After making a few blunders in paying the reckoning, 
they proceeded towards the quay. On arriving at the gate 
of the town it was shut, and the sentry demanded who was 
there. 

“ A philosopher,” returned Ducabore, in his drunken ac- 
cent. 


176 


CAVENDISH ; OR, 

“ Serjeant, turn out the guard for the field-officer,” cried 
the man, not very well distinguishing the sounds. 

In an instant the guard was turned out, subaltern and all, 
when, staggering in came Ducabore and the youngsters 
with him, convulsed with laughter. 

Tottering up to the officer, he inquired, “ Who the deuce 
are you — and all these (hiccup) lobsters ?” pointing to the 
men drawn up by lantern- light. “ Do you mean to consult 
me, sir ? ‘ Fleas are not lobsters, d — their souls/ as Pope 

says. I’m a philosopher (hiccup) .” 

“ Serjeant,” said the officer, ‘‘take a halberd, and thrust 
that drunken rascal out when observing the uniform of 
Goldsmith, he hesitated. 

“ Who are you , gentlemen ?” 

“ We belong, sir, to the Talthorpe,” tendering their 
cards, ‘(and this is our schoolmaster; he came ashore to 
take care of us, a man of rather eccentric habits, and this 
is his translation of the word.” This was indeed some- 
thing fresh, and opening his eyes with astonishment, the 
officer ordered them a passage through. 

On arriving at the boats they met Lieutenant Willstand, 
and proceeded on board together. The lieutenant also 
perceived how affairs were going on, and happening to 
have a cigar in his mouth, he offered another to Ducabore. 
Though unaccustomed to smoking, the latter immediately 
accepted it ; but, after a few whiffs, his head declined over 
the gm\ of the boat. With the help of two or three 
hands h »vus conveyed to the mess-room, and happening to 
catch a sight of him en passant , I followed in his rear. 

“ Give me a chair, Hearty, — I — shall report you, for 
your misconduct, to — the captain — there, set the chair 
down.” 

Here Hearty officiously pretended to give him a seat, 
while the sage, in fancied security placing himself on it, 
was suddenly precipitated to the ground by its withdrawal. 
Enraged at his abasement, he sent forth a volley of abuse 
at those around him ; and when they proffered a chair, and 
begged he would get up, he replied, “No, you good-for- 
nothing fellows, i will not get up. No, I will — (hiccup) 
compose your perfidy. Send for Captain Sawyer, he shall 
be an eve-witness to your shameful behaviour. I say, 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 1 77 

Tomkins,” (the servant’s name,) “ tell the captain to come 
here directly.” 

“ I can’t, sir.” 

“ But I say you shall.” 

“ Oh, no, sir.” 

“ You shall, you rascal ! — why can’t you ? ” 

“ Because the captain’s at Valetta.” 

44 What of that, you fool ? then tell Valetta to come here 
too, will you ? ” 

“Valetta, sir! Valetta is a city; the thing’s impossible.” 

“ Oh, you know nothing about it ; if a captain ’ll come, 
why shouldn’t a city ? eh ? (hiccup,) why not ? ” 

“ ’Cause as how, sir, a captain has legs, and a city has 
not, as ever I heard of ; besides, I’m sure the captain 
wouldn’t come ; and if he what has legs wouldn’t come, I 
don’t see how a city should, which liarn’t never a one.” 

“ Right, right returned the other, looking in my face; 
“ a (hiccup) great deal of critical acumen that boy’s got.” 
Then pointing at the candles, and gazing steadfastly for five 
minutes with a most laughable expression of bewilderment, 
he broke forth — “ A perfect phantasmagoria ! I see four 
candles, and now you know there are only two on the table. 
I see two Tomkinses ! Boy, have you two bodies ? ” 

“ No, sir.” 

“ Thought not,” shaking his head very wisely; “now, 
take those two candles in your hand — there, I see four now. 
Open your mouth — yes — it is a (hiccup) fact — two boy 
Tomkinses, two heads, two mouths open (what a lot of 
mosquitos he might catch), — four eyes — no — it isn’t — it’s 
six eyes — no — ” nodding his pate against the floor — “ four 
eyes and two bodies — a perfect phantasmagoria — never saw 
such a perfect thing in my life. There, boy, keep shutting 
your mouth and winking your eyes — yes, yes ; now dance 
your body — oh, yes, a perfect phantasmagoria ! ” when 
under the happy idea that there w T as yet something new in. 
nature, this worshipper of the grape resigned himself to the 
care of Morpheus. 

Not long was he allowed to remain quiet, for Jack 
Hearty, shaking him by the shoulder, said, “ I’ve been for 
the captain, sir, and he’ll be here directly.” 

“Eh ! eh ! what ? what ?” cried Ducabore, starting in a 

N 


178 cavendish r or, 

fright ; “ and who (hiccup) told you to go for the captain, 
sir ? ” 

“ You did.” 

“ I didn’t ; I told boy Tomkins, and he said that the 
captain had legs, but Valetta wouldn’t let him come. 
There’s critical acumen ; and so I don’t want the captain, 
(hiccup) — I won’t see the captain ; tell him my — feelings 
won’t allow me to see — tell him to keep away.” 

“ Oh, no, I can tell him nothing of the sort. There he 
is. Don’t you hear his foot on the stairs ?” 

“ Oh, (hiccup) oh, I won’t ; no, I declare I won’t see — 
I do declare I’ll go away,” trying to creep a little. 

But he had too much Malaga aboard ; and feeling him- 
self obliged to lie down on the boards a little longer, he 
folded his arm round his head, saying, “ Tell him, oh, tell 
him I’m fast as — tell him I’m in a (hiccup) slumber.” 

This was his last effort ; even the glimmering of sense 
that remained was now extinguished, and having been laid 
on the lid of his sea-chest, he was soon insensible to every 
thing. 

“The most fitting thing that we can do,” said Lord 
George Thicke, one of his messmates, whom I had not seen 
before, and who appeared to be a clever, good-natured being, 
“is to smut his face with a burnt cork.” 

“ Capital !” re-echoed Humbug, getting one and execu- 
ting the proposal, while the degraded brute snored as sound 
and as unheedingly as any of his brethren of the sty. 

At half-past twelve the watch was relieved, and the 
youngster who had been keeping it entered the loft, where 
all our hammocks were hanging. The first thing he did 
was to advance towards the schoolmaster ; and after mutely 
looking on the brute, with mingled hatred and contempt, as 
he turned away, his eye was caught by some object con- 
tained in a drawer lying on the ground : stooping down, he 
picked it up ; it was a razor. 

I was rather frightened; it was needless; for, putting 
down the lantern, so as to throw the light on the sage’s face, 
and grasping the razor between his finger and thumb, as 
though about to shave, I heard him soliloquizing. “ You 
despicable wretch, I might now revenge myself, if I chose ; 
it is but shaving off a whisker or an eyebrow, and putting 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


179 

the captain m possession of the truth, and you would be no 
longer here to pervert every thing with your vile calumny. 
With him, discovery and punishment are one ; much as I 
should rejoice in seeing you sent home in merited disgrace 
— no — fate spares you yet awhile,” flinging down the razor ; 
“ some future day, perhaps, may see such a Mokanna un- 
veiled.” The light flashed upon the youngster’s face as he 
got into his hammock ; it was Neville. 

Greatly as every one despised Ducabore, who abused, but 
seldom used, his authority, no person liked to take particular 
notice of his misconduct ; and having therefore washed the 
burnt- cork from his face, and kept his aching head out of 
view for the day, the affair passed over. 

The mere fault of being intoxicated would have been 
slight in any one else, comparatively speaking, though 
wrong in all ; but in a man who, not three weeks before, 
had held forth to the captain’s displeasure two boys for a 
far less offence, to expose himself to the gaze of these very 
lads in the most degraded point of view which man can ex- 
hibit, no language can reprobate such iniquitous hypocrisy 
too severely. Nor was this all ; night after night, he might 
have been found in scenes of dissipation, of which, in the 
morning, he had the folly and insolence to make a conversa- 
tion and a boast, before those very youngsters whose morals 
and manners he never failed to report, according to the 
strict severity of the law ; and while it was solely the wish 
of his superior that they should be under a due restraint, 
this man, by his mode of proceeding, did all that he could 
to render the ship a perfect hell. Here then is one of the 
blunders of our naval service; men are brought up so im- 
plicitly to merge their reason in obedience, that few, if any 
of them, dare to step forward in defence of the oppressed. 
I ask if no reform be wanting in a service where this is one 
of the (taut) bye-laws ? * 

He who tries a superior by a court-martial, however just 
his cause, is a marked man ; he will never succeed. Are 
superior officers then to be blamed if they are deceived in 
delegating authority ? — Decidedly not. How is a captain, 
whom etiquette forbids to mingle much with his junior 
officers, to know who is trust-worthy, and who is not, if 
* See Notes at the end of the volume. 

N 2 


180 


CAVENDISH ; OR, 

there be no one to inform him ? — He must trust to chance, 
-^-chance which never yet marked the difference between 
the good and bad. 


CHAPTER XXI. 

The isles of Greece ! the isles of Greece 
Where burning Sappho loved and sung. 

Eternal Summer gilds thee yet, 

But all except their sun is set. 

Having passed six weeks in the alternate amusements of 

going to the opera, flirting with the Misses R , admiring 

the Misses Planters, going to the balls, and lounging at his 
excellency’s levees — not forgetting to follow up Byron’s 
precept, by bestowing a few daily curses on those eternal 
streets of stairs — it became time to bid adieu to the joys of 
La Valetta, not very deeply wounded by the numerous fair 
archers, ever on the look out in Malta to secure a heart, or 
an establishment, and who in spite of the monastic scene 
around them, evidently have their ideas set, 

Less on a convent than an epaulette. 

A coronet is out of the question, unless, as Moore says, it 
were a “ corona muralis” for some feat performed on the 
walls of stone surrounding the hearts of the military. Only 
think, such of my readers as have beheld the run, the rout, 
the rabble, and the fuss, following a pair of epaulettes, more 
especially if gracing the shoulders of an honourable man — 
what would be the sensation produced by a coronet ? 
Scarcely less, I imagine, than that produced by the regent’s 
big bomb, which Counsellor Jekyll, I think, thus apostro- 
phizes, — 

Maids of honour should kiss it, and pages should fear it, 

And as for a Smitch,* Sir, — he should not come near it. 

But to return. One morning, towards the close of Sep- 
tember, in the year — never mind the year — H. M. S. Tal-, 
thorpe unfolded — to speak in classically poetic phrase — her 
snowy canvass to the breeze, and bade a long adieu to 
* Smitch, — a term of abbreviation signifying a Maltese. 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA 


181 


Malta. Immediately on our going to sea, the studies of 
the midshipmen, which had been interrupted during the 
ship’s stay in Malta, were renewed. From nine o’clock till 
half-past eleven, navigation and French were drilled into us 
on alternate days. Dinner took place at noon (think of 
that, fashionable men), and from one till half-past two, uni- 
versal history and British law employed us. I never met 
with any ship where the captain took so much pains with 
his youngsters ; and every month an examination was held 
in the navigation department. They certainly ought to be 
clever lads ; if they are not — why “ no matter,” to use the 
words of the immortal Best. 

“ Neville, keep this washing-place for me, will you ?” 
said Humbug, one morning to his messmate Neville, going 
on deck, and leaving his towels spread out on a gun-tackle, 
beneath the screen on the main-deck, which the captain 
had allotted for our ablutions. 

“ Very well,” said the other, “ I will.” 

“ Come, I shall sheer these traps out of the way,” said 
Jennings, coming up, and attempting to occupy the place 
which Humbug had arranged for himself. 

“ No, Jennings,” said the trustee, " I cannot give you up 
that place.” 

“ You give me up ! I like that ; who asked you ?” 

“ Certainly not yourself ; if you had, it would have been 
to no purpose ; it was left in my charge by Humbug.” 

* Pooh ! I will have it,” returned Jennings, who could 
have eaten the other in two mouthfuls, so great was their 
disparity of size. 

“ Very well,” replied the lesser one ; “ if you must have 
it, take it ; but not peaceably while I can defend it.” 

“ Get out of this, youngster,” said Jennings, half in fun, 
flinging a spongeful of water into the other's face. It was 
returned instantly. Jennings lost his temper ; a battle 
commenced, in which the latter, being so much stronger, 
soon had the other under him, where he appeared likely to get 
what is called a good thrashing, when in came Humbug. 

Now between Humbug and his trustee there had long 
been an alliance, offensive and defensive, against this very 
madcap Jennings (who was fond of what he thought play, 
but what in reality approached nearer to bullying), by which 


182 


CAVENDISH ; OR, 

they were bound to support each other in any attack or war 
with Jennings. In such a case as this, therefore, where the 
quarrel originated solely in defence of Humbug’s rights, he 
was doubly bound to give prompt aid. But no such thing ; 
he merely stood afar off, waving his towel in a most laugh- 
able manner, and saying, — “ Oh, now don’t, don’t Jennings, 
hit poor Neville !” 

“ Oh, you donkey, why don’t you help him ?” said the 
spirited little Goldsmith, springing on Jennings ; but it 
was soon ended. Judas Iscariot heard the rout, and 
placed both the combatants on the bit-heads for punishment. 
In two hours, when they were released, they were the best 
friends in the ship. 

In a few days after leaving Malta, we ascertained the 
destination of his Majesty’s ship Talthorpe, to be the Gre- 
cian Archipelago. 

Among the first islands at which we touched was that of 
Milo, presented, I believe, by the Greeks to Prince Hamil- 
ton, and by him refused of course. The most ignorant of 
the islanders could scarcely be brought to believe that Eng- 
land contained a greater personage than Captain Hamilton 
— for six or seven years the senior officer in the Archipela- 
go ; at the entrance of which this rocky isle is situated. It 
is the next thing to uninhabited. A few fishermen’s huts, 
and the somewhat better abodes of the Greek pilots, con- 
gregated together on the summit of a high hill which com- 
mands the sea, named the Crow’s Nest, is, as far as I am 
aware, if not the only, at least the principal town on the 
island. 

It has a wild but calm appearance, that same crow’s nest, 
gilded by the last ray of the setting sun, its windmills moving 
slowly to the evening breeze, while, spread around the base, 
softly rolls the unregarded sea. I would I were like thee, 
reclusive from the waste of life, and soaring above those 
warring tides, that make such frequent shipwreck of our 
true happiness. 

After the lays without end, and prose- works without 
number, that celebrate the beauties of the Grecian islands, 
it is not without some disappointment that a stranger makes 
his first acquaintance with them in the month of October. 
Instead of the clear and cloudless sky, the deep blue sea, and 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 183 

an atmosphere regulated to eighty degrees of Fahrenheit, 
the scholar is surprised to find himself in a land of mist and 
drizzle, which last in the most unclassical manner for two 
or three months ; while the ocean, or mill-pond, as those 
sinners the Bardi call it, far from slumbering like an un- 
weaned child, shakes his mane in a style at once uncourteous 
and unkind, and not at all to be desiderated by those whose 
entrance is still recent upon a marine existence. 

There is a wild ecstatic joy which the sailor’s life affords, 
that the shore can never give ; and it is in the Grecian 
Archipelago that this is more particularly felt, when the even- 
ing sets in, the sky one wide-spread sheet of azure, the sea its 
calm unruffled mirror, over which your ship can be barely 
seen to move, while at a distance of six or eight miles re- 
poses the land our boyhood has been taught to revere — a 
land which sent forth heroes, round whose brow’s our preju- 
dices and our passions have twined the brightest bays of im- 
mortality. 

As Rogers tells us, — speaking of Italy, — when sitting on 
our schoolboy forms, how little did we deem this hour 
would come, or that we should behold the self-same scene 
as that which gilded the last moments of the immortal So- 
crates ; that the same blue breast of waters would bear us in 
the same bay which beheld Grecian freedom triumph over 
Persian multitudes ; that we should tread the same steps 
with Demosthenes, and ramble over the liallow’ed island, 
where, weary of the persecutions of his enemies, he con- 
verted his instrument of punishment on them into the surest 
means of refuge from their enmity — the poisoned quill, 
dreaded by those who had writhed under the torture of its 
sting, beloved by him whom it served to guide to greatness 
and to rest. Who on viewing these scenes, would not feel 
himself above the herd, to whom land is land — it matters 
not whether Beachy Head, or the Tarpeian Rock — the Acro- 
polis of Athens, or Timbuctoo ? 

And this is Cape Colonna ! It wants but little fancy to 
restore the broken pillaged columns to their earth-born 
grandeur, and to behold the train of nymphs with garlands 
on their heads, and offerings in their hands, proceeding to 
the sacrifice of the virgin goddess ; while, mellowed by the 
distance, and undulating along the wave, fancy can distin- 


184 cavendish; or, 

guish heaven-sprung sounds. Swiftly the scene changes — 
the last, long, glowing tint of a departed sun has vanished. 
— The temple stands forth in all its ruined majesty to the 
winds of Heaven, now whistling round its sacred fragments ! 
— Clouds are flitting fast and far along the late pure 
Heavens. — The sea curls up in angry violence, and sends its 
dashing spray upon the altar, where once the Grecian priest 
burnt sacrifice. — Anon, the eye descries the battered hulk 
of a vessel ; her masts are gone ; her rigging and her sails 
are flying to the breeze — no soul is seen on board — she 
drives towards the shore with irresistible fury — a moment 
more she strikes ; a wild and piercing shriek is heard. 
The shipwreck and the fate of Falconer gleam sadly on the 
mind, and all is changed once more. The sky and waves 
are as they were. A lonely figure stands on the unroofed 
aisle, as if mourning over the glory of a departed dream. 

Place me on Sunium’s marble steep, 

Where nothing but the waves and I 
May hear our mutual murmurs sweep, 

There, swan-like, let me sing and die ; 

A land of slaves shall ne’er be mine, 

Dash down yon bowl of Samian wine ! 

Who would not roam to Greece, if but to let his eye- 
beam rest on the spot where Byron died ? But the rock 
before me ! — Alas ! it is but the same grey, hoary Cape 
Colonna, alone, unheeded, a secret spring that can awake to 
reverie the visionary mind. 

Among the numerous creeks and corners into which our 
pirate-hunting led us, was the romantic harbour of Poros, 
the island which contains the ashes of the Athenian orator, 
Alexander's greatest foe. It is little more than a rock ; 
but the scenery to be found on that and the adjacent part of 
the Morea, is most exquisite. The high and uneven hills 
are interspersed with vineyards, where the grape-bushes are 
planted in rows, appearing at first more like currant-shrubs 
than aught beside ; these also generally fill up the valleys, 
while upon the mountain-side are to be seen, in enchanting 
and wild luxuriance, the olive and the lemon, the orange and 
the citron ; while not unfrequently, the strawberry arbutus 
and geraniums may be found growing like mere weeds upon 
this genial soil. On the summits of the highest hills are 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


185 

perched small huts, white- washed, — the Grecian churches. 
The ornaments within these are as inconsistent as any 
other features of the Grecian character. A gaudy gilded 
picture hangs over the entrance, sanctified by a rudely 
carved cross of wood. Within, more of these daubs may 
be found ; and, suspended from the ceiling are several 
tumblers, three-parts filled with water, on which a stratum 
of oil buoys up some floating light. At one end stands the 
altar, with a chalice for burning frankincense. The doors 
are always unclosed ; and though there is nothing valuable 
to abstract, it nevertheless shows that in a land of universal 
thievery, and in the midst of chaos and disorder, the house 
of their God, and altar of their religion, are sacred still. 

Nor even in this wild and distant spot are all thoughts of 
Old England absent. Here and there a little yellow-blos- 
somed furze, brings back the barren commons of our native 
shore, — but no soft eyes to cheer them. Occasionally 
through the bushes may be seen a petticoat ; but while you 
spring forward to pay it some slight adoration, it is gone — 
or, worse, turns out to be that magic garment drying on a 
briar — too great a stretch for the imagination ! In sober 
1 ruth, very little can be said for the Greek women ; often 
have I turned away in disgust, as memory recalled the an- 
gelic description of Haidee ; their figures are neither suf- 
ficiently tall nor slight, they know not the use of corsets ; 
and though this takes much from the danger of tight 
lacing, it spoils the figure. Their eyes, I think, are rather 
small, and their plump and oval faces are deeply dyed from 
exposure to the sun. It would, however, be very unfair to 
take this as a portrait of Grecian female beauty. The rarest 
and most beautiful plants generally require the highest cul- 
ture ; and thus, the higher rank of life in which a woman 
moves, to a certain grade, the greater chance she will have 
of being handsome, inasmuch as they are never submitted to 
anything which may injure that precious boon of nature, fe- 
male loveliness. 

To say nothing of the luxuries which wealth bestows, the 
indolent state of inaction in which we naturally like to live, 
though it ruins the health, yet throws over the female face 
that vague, bewitching veil of softness, that makes man gaze 
with a feeling of idolatry, — breathless, lest he ruffle a single 


186 


CAVENDISH ; OR, 


charm. In Greece, there are very few families of this de- 
scription. 

In the harbour we found H. M. S. Cymbrian, Captain 
Humbleman ; and as she was almost the only ship of any 
note on that part of the station, the officers of both vessels 
showed a mutual desire to cultivate an acquaintance. The 
Cymbrian had long been employed on the Mediterranean 
station, and I therefore knew the greater part of her officers, 
when in the Niobe; but as the Talthorpes were all stran- 
gers, that knowledge had yet to commence. 

I have seldom met with a ship which could boast in the 
aggregate so pleasant a set of officers as the Cymbrian. 
The captain, who had seen much service, seemed to delight 
in their amusement, and forebore to harass those under him 
by any duties which were not strictly called for. 

He never troubled friends or foes with his garrulity, but 
came at once ad rem ; his was a lot that seldom falls to one 
in office, universal esteem. 

There were only two points which might be called in ques- 
tion. His kindness might now and then be said to dege- 
nerate into indifferent ease, and he sported Marsala and 
water in preference to lighter wines ; so that he whose sto- 
mach, as Le Sage would say, was not drilled into bibbing 
that heart-burning mixture of grape-lees and brandy, stood 
very little chance in a drinking-bout with Captain Gong 
Humbleman. 

After a few advances on either side, the Talthorpes were 
voted by the Cymbrians to be the best set of fellows on the 
station, and the Talthorpes returned the compliment most 
willingly. But mind, reader, this only includes the mids of 
both ships. To kill time, a cricket-match was appointed ; 
and at nine in the morning, the officers of both ships being 
duly accoutred, and prepared with provisions, as well as with 
a large quantity of wine and sprits, proceeded to the ground 
on the Morea side of the harbour. 

On our road I had an opportunity of witnessing the pecu- 
liar method by which the Greeks thresh their corn. They 
are ignorant, it seems, of the construction of a barn, but, 
when the season arrives, they select a flat piece of ground, 
generally near the sea, and exposed to the breeze. A large 
stake is driven into the ground, and four, five, six, or even 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


187 

eight horses are yoked together abreast. One flank being 
secured to the pole, and the other led by a hoy, the animals 
are made to describe a circle round the stake, whose diame- 
ter is more or less, according to the number of horses used. 
Beneath the cattle the corn is laid, over which their feet 
exercise an action correspondent to our flail, while behind 
comes a boy with a goad or whip to impel them forward ; 
and though in some measure a living threshing-machine, it 
was, when I left the country, unvisited by the menaces of 
“ Swing ” Having undergone this process, the corn is fi- 
nally winnowed and ground, but is too intimately mixed with 
sand in the first instance, ever to become wholly free from 
it. It is, therefore, a rule never to close the teeth in eating 
Greek bread. 

Having partaken of as much as was intended of our 
newly-instituted Olympian games, the chiefs reposed them- 
selves in their tent, while the younger part of the commu- 
nity sought their amusement without ; — Captain Hum- 
bleman, supported by his old friend, Marsala and 
water ; Captain Sawyer preferring the more rosy tints of 
Burgundy. 

“ Sawyer/’ said the former, after sipping a due portion, 
“ fine set of young men, your youngsters — very fine set of 
young men, indeed.” 

“ Yes,” replied Captain Sawyer ; “lam rather particular 
about them, though they do give a man a monstrous deal of 
trouble sometimes ; which, were it not for the recollection 
of our own youthful vagaries, would try the patience more 
than it already does. But, on the score of personal appear- 
ance, I think the gentlemen of the Cymbrian may more 
than match any ship on the station ; still, perhaps, I have 
somewhat the advantage of you on the whole ; for, taking 
your youngsters, Humbleman, at an average, they are three 
years senior to mine. I think from seventeen to one or 
two and twenty, makes the run of yours — excessive ticklish 
age that to manage,” — swallowing down a glass of Bur- 
gundy, and snuffing, — “whereas, you see, mine are all 
between fourteen and nineteen — troublesome enough, I as- 
sure, even though there are fewer of them.” 

“ Ah, Sawyer,” returned the other, emptying his tumbler, 
and replenishing the same, “ you’re a younger man, ye see. 


188 


CAVENDISH ; OR, 


and can afford to pay more attention co the subject — worry 
my life out — good Marsala ! — Salvo’s* — no, no, I keep the 
ship up here among the Cyclades — less likely to inflame 
their fancies than the Maltese or Smyrniots. In my 
young days I never found much to admire in rocks and 
stones/’ 

“ A very good plan, certainly, Humbleman. I only see 
one objection/’ 

"■What’s that?” 

“Why you keep your own fancy as cool as those of your 
midshipmen.” 

“ Hah ! not quite , but we never think of those things ; 
better for duty ; follow my plan, Marsala and water,” again 
filling. 

*f The plan, Humbleman, is excellent ; but Marsala is 
rather too strong a wine — for my gustation, substitute 
Chambertin.” 

" Strong, my dear sir ! weak as seltzer water. Sawyer, 
here’s glory to ye ; there’s nothing else left for me to wish 
you — habit, sir, is second nature.” 

“True,” and a smile curled round Captain Sawyer’s 
mouth. 

“ Well, now,” said the senior, whose heart was barely 
beginning to feel the kindly influence of the grape, “ this 
( ricket is a noble game, — very, very noble game ; your 
youngsters play excessively well (mine play better though, 
aside) ; I vote we play here often.” 

“ I should like it very much,” said the junior captain. 

“ Agreed.” 

“ Then we lie here and play cricket for the next month. 
Never smile, sir, no joke. Not a bad bat myself in olden 
time,” (taking a stride across the tent !) “ ah ! that cursed 
wound of mine !” (suddenly reseating himself ;) “ shan’t be 
able to run much, but then I can see the sport, — noble 
game of cricket !” 

“ Very noble, sir,” said Lieutenant Straw, entering the 
tent, who seldom lost an opportunity of displaying his igno- 
rance and stupidity. “ Very ancient too, I understand, if 
my memory serves me. The ancient Greeks were very 
poetical, — I mean to say partial to it. Now, I dare say if 
* A wine-merchant at Malta. 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 1 8j 

the ground could speak, it might inform us that some ages 
ago these worthies of antiquary ” 

“ Antiquity,” said some one helping him. 

“Ah, yes, antiquity ; well those chaps might have had 
some half a dozen innings on the same spot.” 

“Cricket, Mr. Straw!” said Captain Humbleman in 
surprise. 

“ Cricket, Mr. Straw !” echoed the schoolmaster, “ in 
vhat book did you see that ?” 

“ Homer,” replied Straw, with the most unblushing im- 
pudence, though he had most probably never looked into 
that author in his life ; nor indeed by his conversation, into 
any other, unless it were Kitchiner’s Domestic Oracle. 

“ Here is a small edition of Homer, perhaps you can point 
out the passage,” giving him the volume. 

“ I hardly know,” said Straw ; “ I am afraid I cannot hit 
on it at this moment,” staring at the text as learnedly as 
one of his porcine brethren might be supposed to do at the 
alphabet. “ No,” he continued, turning over the leaves 
without reversing their position (it had been purposely put 
into his hand upside down), “but I remember it very well.” 

“ What was the word used ?” 

“ Oh, — cricketus,” replied the lieutenant, with a face ex- 
tremely puzzled. 

“ That’s not Greek !” continued the pedagogue, very per- 
tinaciously. 

“ No ! — may-be not — but I’m positive, I recollect.” 

“Very singular indeed; you cannot mean the Discus, 
surely ?” 

“ Ah, yes, to be sure, that’s it, Dixus, I knew I had heard 
of it before.” And without giving his persecutor an opportu- 
nity of further exposing his ignorance, he darted out of the 
tent, and with his usual familiarity began to play with the 
midshipmen around him, as though they had been his equals,; 
till at length getting him to an uneven part of the ground, 
they surrounded, and commenced pelting him with stones. 
Furious at this, he took by storm a small hillock on which: 
several were assembled, and commenced laying about him' 
in good earnest. Unluckily, the chief burden of his blows 
fell on Ginhouse, of the Cymbrian, a strong, stout fellow,' 
who, placing his rank in the distance, began a Cornish 


190 


CAVENDISH J OR, 

wrestle with the huge carcase of his opponent, and grappled 
him round the waist. The other mids immediately closed on 
their friend’s behalf, some seizing the lieutenant by his coat- 
tails, some placing their backs against him, and their feet 
set on the rock, others climbing up and hanging on his 
shoulders, like the Lilliputians attacking Gulliver. The 
combination of force proved too much for Straw, and his 
feet tripping on the brow of the hill, he and Ginhouse, still 
undissevered from their fond embrace, rolled down together. 

At every turn, when Ginhouse was under, an expressive 
“ Oh !” forced its way out, as it were from the heavy 
pressure of incumbent weight. Suddenly their progress 
was impeded by the stump of a tree, when their bonds 
parted, and each came singly to the bottom of the hill. Gin- 
house now started up, and joining in the hurrah of victory 
raised by*'his messmates, the discomfited lieutenant went off 
in high dudgeon. 

On our road back towards the ship, we halted to finish 
whatever potations remained at a well. It was of singular 
construction, and served to water a melon-garden. On its 
brink was erected some wooden machinery, on which were 
hung a series of earthen jars, turned by the rotation of a 
mule, causing a constant flow of water into the main branch 
of a set of channels, which intersected the whole garden ; 
a plan which might be adopted in England with great suc- 
cess, both as to beauty and convenience. 

It was a lovely spot, and spoke truly of Eastern scenery, 
if we except the mids, who came staggering from the vicinity 
of the well, as though it had overflowed with eau de vie. 
Numerous were the congratulations passed between us rela- 
tive to the month’s cricket forthcoming, as we pulled on 
board the Cymbrian to wassail it out with them. Samos 
wine, Dutch hollands, Jamaica rum, and Havannah segars, 
all held forth their fascinating charms in the larboard berth 
of H. M. S. Cymbrian. Great was the adoration paid to 
them ; it would, I am sure, be a unique scene to introduce 
thee to them, reader, but I know not whether satisfaction 
would be the result of the interview ; take a sample. 

“ Cavendish, hand me that water-bottle,” said T , 

pointing to a decanter. 

I did so ; when pouring a few glasses of rum into a large 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


191 


Jamaica vase, he filled it up with the liquid I had given him; 
then rising, spoke, “ Gentlemen and brother officers, I wish 
to propose a toast.” 

“ Let’s have it !” shouted one and all. 

“ It deserves a stronger beverage than this, but my 
nerves ” 

“ Oh, never mind your nerves ; where’s your toast ?” 

“The eternal friendship of the Cymbrians and Tal- 
thorpes !” 

“ Hurrah !” was the echo, and down went half the con- 
tents of T - J s goblet. 

“ Un — commonly strong,” said he, taking breath, and 
pouring in some more of the water. In ten minutes he 
started up very furiously : “I will sing a song — none of 
your servile copies for me ; a man’s nothing if he can’t sing 
a song extempore.” And without more ceremony he com- 
menced. 


SONG. 


In women’s eyes 
The nectar lies 

With which we drink to love ; 


But friendship’s soul 
Is in the bowl, 

Jove’s nectar from above. 

Who would not drink dear woman’s sigh. 
And spurn the sober vine ? 

Warm from her heart fresh passing by 
With love and life, nor doom’d to die 
Like joys that spring from wine. 

Here east and west 
Yield forth their best, 

A moment’s bliss to crown ; 

To woman still 
One goblet fill, 


Those who for passion wildly crave, 


Love’s pangs moment drown. 
But love lies o’er the distant wave, 
Bedimm’d its beauteous ray ; 



Come pledge, “ Here’s friendship to the grave !” 


’Twill smooth our darkling way. 


" Shiver my timbers ! I won t smg any more,” exclaimed 

T , abruptly breaking off, and raising the glass to his 

lips; but little was drank; the seat of reason had been 


192 CAVENDISH ; OR, 

inundated by his late draughts ; his eyes twinkled in their 
sockets for an instant, and down he sank, vase and all, under 
the table. 

“Hurrah, T ! hurrah for your Pegasus; don’t let 

him cast a shoe.” 

“ Why, carthe that fellow — he’s a nath’ral fool ! there’s 
my Grecian drinkthing* cup smathred ; how has the fellow 
got drunk ?” cried out the owner, an irritable, lisping 
Welshman. 

“How, indeed?” thought I, for I had been sitting at 

T ’s elbow, and had not noticed him drinking any 

quantity for such results ; but on taking up his water-bottle 
it was explained — the contents were Hutch schnaps* 
Having carefully conveyed him to the boat, we departed ; 
and, as we pulled towards the Talthorpe, one of the senior 
midshipmen, who never could refrain from moralising when 
a few sheets in the wind, held a most eloquent discourse 
over his prostrate messmate, who, still poetically inclined, 
was bellowing most lustily ; but one of the youngsters 
stopped his mouth, and nearly stifled the poor fellow. 

“ Now, is it not horrible,” said the moralist, pointing 
with his finger, and clipping the king’s English not a little, 

“ that T should be — I — say should be — with such a 

fine voice ? — What is he — now — now what do you think he 
is ? Why — he — is — pro tempore defuncto . Shocking ! 

oh, my heart — is — in — the grave — with T , and I must 

— pause till it come back to me.” 

Here we arrived alongside ; the quarter-master came 
into the boat, in order to sling the temporary defunct with 
a rope and hoist him out ; but the moralist stayed him. 

“ Quarter- master- ” 

“ Sir !” 

“Now take — great — care.” 

“Yes, I will ; I know all ” 

“ You do not — you do not understand.” 

“ Oh, yes ” 

“ Yes ! d — n you, sir, hold your tongue ; you do not, L 
tell you. — Take great care — of him — greatest possible care 
of him — who knows what may be the consequences ? He 
is — I say he is pro tempore defuncto .” 

* Hollands, some degrees above proof. 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


193 


CHAPTER XXII. 

White is the glassy deck without a stain, 

Where, on the watch, the staid lieutenant stalks ; 

Look on that part which sacred doth remain 
For the lone chieftain, who majestic stalks, 

Silent, and feared by all. Childe Harold. 

Early on the ensuing morning a signal was observed flying 
on board the Cymbrian. The books were quickly brought 
upon the capstan, the signal code referred to. It was — 

“ Prepare to be ” “ Ashore at the cricket-ground,” 

re-echoed every one, “ of course.” “ There goes up the rest 
of the telegraph ! What is it ?” — “ at sea in half an hour.” 

“ Holloa ! your Marsala cask’s dry, old boy,” said the 
clerk, who possessed humour of the same stamp as the 
commodore’s cask. 

There was no reprieve, and as H.M.S. Talthorpewas the 
smartest ship on the station, in less than twenty minutes we 
were under sail and passing the Cymbrian’s quarter. 

“ Sawyer,” said Captain Humbleman, hailing, “cruise be- 
tween HSgina and Hydra for a week, till you see me.” 

“ Very well. I can touch at some place for fresh beef 
and veg ” 

“ Oh ! no, never mind that. The master of the transport 
tells me that your salt junk is very good — two years in cask 
— only been out to the West Indies once in the Fly ; but 
she lost three parts of her crew by the yellow-fever, and so 
it came home again — no infection, dare say. If you do 
catch any pirates, you know you can fricassee a few of them 
for your own private table. I’m told they’re very good 
eating — don’t vouch for the fact, as Horace Smith makes 
Cobbett say. Good morning ! ” — and away we went to sea. 

The next morn was the Sabbath. My watch relieved the 
one in which Neville was a youngster, when, to my sur- 
prise, at five o’clock, I found him walking the deck, instead 
of being in his hammock. 

“ How is this, boy, that you are here ?” 

“ If you mean such a trivial thing as, why do I keep 
eight hours’ watch, while the rest have only four ? — I 

o 


CAVENDISH ; OR, 


194 

answer, because it so happened that, while my old watch- 
mate, Lackit, was snoring, Mr, WillstanU and myself held 
a long discussion on the weather-gangway, on Byron’s 
Faliero. What would the consequence have been, had he 
succeeded in overthrowing the oligarchy at Venice ? Having 
called the mate of the watch and Judas Iscariot, I returned, 
to follow up the discussion. Just at this moment, Caven- 
dish, up came old Judas — ‘ Mr. Neville, why did you not 
tell me that land was in sight ?’ — ‘ I had forgotten it, sir.’ 
‘ Then stay up till eight o’clock ; and forget it’s a punish- 
ment, will you ?’ — ‘ I’ll try, sir,’ I replied ; 4 but I had 
rather forget it altogether.’ Now the rogue, if he had any 
conception of dry humour, would have sent me down to my 
hammock, considering I have only had three hours’ sleep 
to?night, instead of keeping me to paddle about in the water 
while these fellows are holy- stoning decks. Look at the old 
rascal there, munching his figs ; he always comes up here 
with his pockets full. Ah ! who would come to sea when 
he can drown himself in a horse-pond ? Time, you old 
sinner ! depart, and make room for breakfast,” continued 
Neville, “ while we are here lounging on the booms.” 

“We shall soon be relieved,” said I. “Never casta 
thought to load him, and he quickly brushes by. Are you 
strong on the chest, Neville ?” pressing his Flushing jacket, 
as he was lying near me. 

“ Yes, I believe so — why ?” 

“ Because I once saw a juggler support an immense weight 
on his chest. Try how many shot you can bear, without 
flinching, in the same position.” 

“ Very well ; you get some of the eighteen-pounders.” 

I accordingly placed five or six on his chest ; and we 
were talking very busily as to placing any more, when 
Stretcher’s voice was heard, calling “ Mr. Neville — Mr. 
Neville !” 

“ Oh ! quick, quick, Cavendish ; take these confounded 
things off,” said he, not daring to answer or spring up, 
without discovering to Judas what we were about, which 
would have brought the pair into a scrape ; myself for idling 
on my watch, and he for not walking the deck, instead of 
lying on the booms. 

“ Quarter-master, go down and bring up Mr, Neville * 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


195 

“ Here I am, sir,” he replied, at last freed from his load, 
walking towards the quarter-deck from the lee-gangway. 

“ What business had you off deck, sir ?” 

“ I was not off deck — I was on the gangway which was 
perfectly correct. 

“ Then, why did you not answer me ? I see how it is, 
you were not on deck.” 

“ Yes, I was, sir.” 

“You were not. I shall report you to the captain ;” and, 
nodding his head, old Judas went down the hatchway, as 
much as to say, “ look out for a squall !” 

“ There, my juggler, Manvers Cavendish, juggle me out 
of this scrape, if you can.” 

“ Fm very sorry, my dear fellow ! What had you better 
do ?” 

“ Stand the brunt, sir ; stand the brunt. 

The darkest day, 

Live till to-morrow, will have pass’d away.” 

“ But why not tell him how it was ?” 

“ Psha ! then he will have us both. No ; if nothing very 
serious arises out of it, I may as well take a few hours* 
mast-heading, and make no further fuss on the subject. If 
you are particularly anxious to have your share of it, you 
can keep till ten o’clock to-night in the first watch, instead 
of my taking the deck at eight.” 

“ Very well, be it so.” 

When we next met, it was shortly after divisions — “Well, 
Neville, are you not mast-headed ?” 

“No.” 

“ Have you seen the captain ?” 

“Yes.” 

“ What did he say ?” 

“ Enough.” 

“ But no punishment ?” 

“A little. I have to stay up till sunset on the poop.” 

“ What a silly fellow you are, not to explain it !” 

“ The thing is past.” 

“ Nothing like determination : hut if you go to the fore- 
scuttle as soon as I go down to dinner, I will send the ser- 
vant with some viands and a tumbler full of wine.” 

o 2 


j 96 


CAVENDISH J OR, 

Accordingly Neville repaired to the rendezvous, received 
the supplies, and sitting down on the fore-bitts proceeded to 
despatch them, in the middle of which operation he was in- 
terrupted by the youngster of the watch running forward, — 
“ Neville ! Neville ! here's the captain coming." 

“ Is he ? I hope he’s not hungry," redoubling his 
celerity, and finishing the wine to make sure. 

“ Neville! Neville! he’s coming forward on the weather 
gangway." 

“ Oh, say I’m at dinner." 

“ What a ninny you are ! he’ll find you out." 

“ Nothing more natural. He said I was to remain on 
deck till sunset ; but that’s no reason why I should starve. 
No, no, dum vivimus vivamus — carpe diem. What hour of 
the day is to-morrow ? here, boy, take away the platter." 

It vanished, but not before Straw, who was the lieutenant 
of the watch, had caught a glimpse of it, and the fact found 
its way instantly to his superior ; at sunset the prisoner was 
relieved. I kept his watch till ten, when he resumed it 
until twelve. In the morning a strange sail was ooserved. 
The captain made his appearance on deck ; and taking the 
signal-man’s glass, found one of the lenses cracked. An 
inquiry was made who did it, when Straw said, “ I dare 
say Mr. Neville, sir. I observed him looking through it 
yesterday." 

“ Send down for that young dog," said the captain. 

Neville made his appearance, thinking it was only a con- 
tinuation of the yesterday’s punishment. It was in vain he 
assured the captain that he knew nothing about the matter, 
for to him it was perfectly new. Straw, for some purpose 
of his own, most probably as having broken it himself, per- 
sisted in his declaration, and the youngster was doomed to 
undergo a second day’s restriction. On questioning him, 
he assured me he knew nothing whatever of the matter. As 
he observed, it was a ridiculous charge ; he was said to 
have broken this glass on the afternoon of Sunday ; it was 
constantly used for fifteen hours till Monday morning, and 
never discovered till then, when the fool of a lieutenant 
could find no more likely person to bear the blame than a 
boy who had been asleep during the time of the accident. 
Straw was notorious for sitting in the hammock-rails and 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


197 

taking a nap ; perhaps in one of these he had fallen, glass 
and all, and now found how convenient it was to have a 
scape-goat. 

“ Well, Cavendish, if they are determined to give me the 
otium , I shall add cum voluptate to it. Here are my keys ; 
will you go down to my drawer, and bring me the first and 
second volumes of Gil Bias ? When Le Sage is devoured, 
I have Humphrey Clinker, and Roderick Random ; I am 
more particularly inclined towards food for the mind, because 
the captain a few seconds since, doubly interdicted any food 
for the body.” 

“ How ?” 

“ He said to me, * Now, youngster, I tell you what it is ; 
you shall have nothing but bread and water. You wea- 
thered me yesterday, but if you do to-day, my name's not 
Sawyer.' He said it so good-naturedly, that I had nearly 
mustered courage to explain ; but then I recollected, that if 
sent down, I should have to go to school, instead of meeting 
the Archbishop of Granada on paper. I think I shall have a 
pleasant time of it; the day is fine, and the breeze refreshing. 
But I strongly except against the captain’s regimen ; for 
Le Sage talks of such savoury stews that 'pon my soul 'tis 
very perplexing — bread and water ! I could almost say 
with the master, ‘ the same to yourself. Captain Sawyer, 
and see how you like it.' " 

“ Never mind, Neville, trust to me for a breakfast and 
descending, I brought him up the books, and watching the 
opportunity when the captain descended to his morning re- 
past, I slipped below, and bearing back an enormous sand- 
wich of fresh meat, deposited it in the hammock-netting, 
within Neville's reach, while the latter gradually sidled up, 
and thus addressed it, — 

“ Bread, beef, and butter, you weathered me yesterday ; 
but if you do to-day, my name's not Neville — bah ! there’s 
the captain’s scuttle open ; I hope he is as well employed 
as myself.” 

The leisure of this penalty came well upon a batch of fresh 
books from a young friend in the Cymbrian, which, had it 
not been for the time thus afforded, he might have found 
much interruption in reading ; but now placing his volume 
under the lee of the hammock-netting, and putting his elbow 


198 cavendish; or, 

between the officers* view from the quarter-deck, as though 
mournfully gazing astern, the youngster turned over his 
pages as contentedly as I might have done when lounging 
on one of the captain’s sofas in the cabin below, to which he 
had very kindly given me free access. Every now and then 
the ship was put about (tacked) ; and as soon as things 
were settled, Master Neville shifted over his book, and 
proceeded. 

It was customary on board the Talthorpe, on the arrival 
of each Sunday, to have prayers ; and Captain Frederick, 
who, like his brother, read remarkably well, always officiated. 
Stretcher himself was what the orthodox clergy would style 
a professing Christian — the evangelical, a carnally- minded 
Christian ; and myself, who am not au fait at these theo- 
logical distinctions, no Christian at all. He therefore could 
not enter into the spirit of this arrangement ; but it being a 
part of his duty to get the church rigged, he bustled about 
it as he did about every thing else. The seats were made 
by capstan-bars laid over buckets, sufficient in number to 
accommodate the congregation, — in the centre of which, a 
stool, surmounted by a writing-desk, and covered with a 
union-jack, made the pulpit, and here you might see the 
traitor- apostle, once a-week, swearing away in high style. 
One phrase, in particular, he was very partial to, if he saw 
the men lounging on their road. “ Come aft, here, to 
church, you d — n — n rascals, or I’ll break your G — d — d 
backs.” Then presently you would here Twvndle singing 
out on the lower-deck, to tantalise him, “Yes, yes, get up 
there, you scoundrels, or I’ll break your backs : yes, break 
your backs.” 

Now Judas was very jealous of having his particular mode 
of swearing pirated by any one, and he generally retorted, 
“ D — their bloods ! Mr. Twvndle, you break their necks, 
ril break their backs.” 

“Ah, to be sure, and I'll make soup of them,” retorted 
the master, who had a word for every one. 

So much for church-going afloat. In the afternoon the 
youngsters had to show their logs, read their lessons, and 
repeat their catechism. 

On the sixth day, as we were cruising off Hydra, a Greek 
boat containing two chiefs came alongside, and desired to 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


199 

speak with Captain Sawyer. One was an old man, simply at- 
tired, supported upon two pillars of flesh. His capote was slung 
across his shoulder, depending behind, below the bend of his 
knee. He wore a blue jacket ; its only ornament a scarlet 
braiding ; he possessed a venerable-looking countenance, and 
was on the whole that sort of person which, had you met in the 
Mall, you would have been tempted to put a shilling in his 
hand, just begging he would get a change of linen. His com- 
panion appeared in years to be his son, in apparel his master. 
A new scarlet cloth cap, with a gold tassel, adorned his head. 
On his shoulders he wore a jacket of the same rich materials, 
also braided with gold. The waist was enclosed in a leathern 
belt, duly gemmed and studded, holding a silver- sheathed 
yataghan, and a superbly-mounted brace of pistols. His 
capote , of the finest texture, in colour brown and red, was 
hung in the most approved Parnassian style, while the gar- 
ments which enclosed his nether limbs had, for a rarity, 
been bleached as white as Hydra’s houses. Beneath his 
knees came the favourite colours again, scarlet and gold, 
where embroidery had done her utmost ; but as for his feet, 
I grieve to say it, reader, his right shoe had a hole in it, 
while the little excrescence that peeped out seemed to aver 
that its owner wore no stockings ! Still there was one thing 
wanting — how to employ his hands ? Play with the hilt of 
his pistols ? No. With the handle of his yataghan ? Too 
strained. With a Bond-street switch ? Not the thing in 
Greece. No, reader ; even here was this paragon provided. 
In his right hand hung a string of amber beads, which his 
left continually counted as he walked the deck, looking at 
his well-furnished body, and showing his — empty cranium. 

Now, had this man appeared in the aforesaid Mall, he 
would instantly have been surrounded and hailed as the 
Persian Ambassador — with the exception of the hole in his 
boot, and sockless foot. But Martin’s best jet, and a boy 
to apply it, might have obviated this. As it was they were 
shown down into the captain’s cabin, and after half an hour’s 
conference, all three returned on deck ; the captain, to the 
astonishment of every body, speaking earnestly, with the 
distance of respect, to the old man, whom he conducted to 
the side, and bowed out of his ship in the first style, while 
the junior followed behind, utterly unheeded. 


200 CAVENDISH ; OR, 

Tbey had no sooner departed than the dirty old sinne* 
turned out to be the Greek Admiral, the far-famed Miaulis, 
The younger man was but a nameless, brainless, Grecian 
dandy. 

The ship’s head was immediately put about, and all sail 
made ; apart, the captain “ stalked in joyless reverie,” with 
an air of mystery. 

“ Where could we be going ?” was the cry ; “ what might 
have been the wondrous intelligence ?” 

“ Why,” said one, “ I think war’s declared with the Porte, 
and we’re going to batter down the Dardanelles.” 

“ Pshaw!’ interrupted the other, “ you know Athens is 
besieged. While the inhabitants sally forth, we are to warp 
in close to the shore, land the marines and small-arm men, 
and assist to cover the debarkation with our broadside — 
fact ; look down into the gun-room, take but a glance at 
the fearful countenance of old Hoskins, the officer of ma- 
rines, what dreadful preparations he is making ; why he’s 
actually — honing his pen-knife ; and there are the gunners, 
too, for the last three days, making wads on the main deck. 
Ah ! it’s all up with us.” 

On arriving off the island of Poros, instead of continuing 
our course towards Athens, we turned aside, and ran in to 
communicate with H. M. S. Cymbrian. We did not 
anchor, but the captain repaired on board, and in ten 
minutes we heard the pipe, “ All hands up anchor,” and 
their capstan moving round to the air of that most approved 
and fashionable bravura, “ Fiddle dum dee.” 

Something awful was evidently about to take place, and 
conjecture rose with uncertainty, which was not doomed to 
be allayed until the afternoon, when we were informed that 
the noted pirate, Zacca, after having been chased from one 
port to another, and outsailing every ship on the station, 
was at length within our grasp. He had taken refuge with 
his corvette in the harbour of Hydra ; but having embroiled 
himself with the inhabitants and authorities of the place, 
they grew magnanimous, and resolved to deliver him up to 
British justice — such as it is. 

Every thing was prepared, and the plan laid to cut his 
vessel out from under the batteries with our boats at night. 
This was however abandoned, and in its stead it was re* 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


201 

solved to enter during the day, and carry her off, nolens 
volens. I shall say nothing of the numerous puffs and airs, 
calms and cat’s-paws with which vEolus tormented us. We 
towed, and rowed, and pulled, and Heaven knows what beside. 
When noon arrived, being monstrously famished, we were 
sufficiently mortal to take what the far-famed Dando would 
have termed “ a slight repast and, somewhat comforted by 
the patience thus afforded, I cast my eyes around me, and 
beheld that every breath of air had died away, and the boats, 
nearly twenty in number, were fastened on ahead, to drag 
our “ bark” along the yielding tide. The Cymbrian’s sig- 
nal-lieutenant was sent on board to render every assistance 
to our mid of the bunting, George Green, in order that no 
mistake might occur. A generous, spirited, excessively 
pleasant, well-bred fellow, was the signal-lieutenant. I 
loved the man for the soul he had for music. He was fond 
of conviviality, as may be guessed from his cognomen, 
“ Lushington.” 

In the morning we had been joined by H. M. S the Gew- 
gaw, Captain Mouthey, and she also sent her boats to unite 
with the rest. 

The first-lieutenant of the Cymbrian, a thorough officer, 
had the command of the rest, among which were Willstand 

and Straw of the Talthorpe, and the Honourable 

Willslay of the Cymbrian, a half-brother of Lord Clearall 
Pinchit. He possessed some good-nature, and more malice ; 
moreover, he was insufferably arrogant and overbearing. 

At half-past two the boats had towed us within a few 
hundred yards of the forts. 

Hydra, like the generality of Greek towns, is built on 
the side of a hill, which Dame Nature has kindly hol- 
lowed into a basin. This harbour is guarded on the east 
by a small fort, on the west by a mole, and several larger 
forts, it being the principal part of the town. From the 
circumstance of each row of houses standing higher than 
the ojther, this town presents “ the fairest mark to throw a 
shell in,” as Byron sings of Ismail. So far from offering 
any opposition, the inhabitants of the town all left their 
houses, and crowded down to the rocks, outside the bat- 
teries, to behold our entrance. 


CAVENDISH ; OR, 




CHAPTER XXIII. 

He was a pirate ; as good a man 
As ever scuttled ship or cut a throat. 

Not slightly amusing was it to behold the various groups 
and costumes of men, women, and children, standing, sit- 
ting, and smoking, with the utmost nonchalance, as though 
we had come in to make a gala day for such a set of raga- 
muffins. Every prominent point likely to be injured by our 
fire, windmills, embrasures, and the like, were thronged. 
The Greeks had been so long spared in their peccadillos, so 
frequently left unpunished, that they could hardly bring 
themselves to imagine we were m earnest. This exposure 
of their persons, therefore, was quite unintentional, and 
recalled very strongly the account of Lord Exmouth's 
attack on Algiers, where his lordship was obliged to mount 
a gun, and wave to the people to get out of the way. 

While only enabled to see our bow and broadside, they 
letainecl their position ; but on the instant that an alteration 
in the ship’s course exposed to their view an anchor 
depending from the stern, they became convinced of 
our intentions, and an immediate flight took place. By 
this time we had arrived in the desired position, which was 
directly across the mouth of the harbour. The stem-anchor 
was let go, and a warp being carried out ahead, was made 
fast beneath a fort on the eastern side, while the signal was 
given for the boats to board. 

“ Hurrah ! my boys, who’ll be in first ? ” was the half- 
uttered cry from all, rowing with the same energy as if for 
the prize at a regatta. But the first-lieutenant of the Cvm- 
brian, in his six-oared black gig, outstripped us all, partly 
of course owing to the deference paid him as commanding 
officer. # 

As soon as his boat approached, he sprang from his seat, 
and, with a drawn cutlass in his hand, mounted the vessel’s 
side. Four of the largest boats all arrived at the same 
time, and proceeded to board, on the bow, gangway, and 
quarter. Foremost among which was the Talthorpe’s 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 203 

barge, containing Willstand and myself. The commanding- 
officer’s head no sooner appeared above the vessel’s bulwark, 
than, with all the impudence imaginable, three pistols were 
presented at him and discharged, one of which appeared to 
have taken effect in his head, and the other two balls came 
rattling down among the boats. This was the signal for 
vengeance. The Talthorpe opened fire from one of her 
quarter-deck guns, while the officers and boats’ crews kept 
up a quick discharge of musketry. 

Luckily we were wrong in our conjecture. The lieu- 
tenant had not even been wounded : he gave an extra wave 
of his sword above his head, and then fell pell-mell among 
the defendants. Close after him mounted Willstand, and 
then came myself. 

The first thing I beheld was an impending tomahawk 
descending on the head of the Cymbrian’s lieutenant. In 
a moment, Willstand, who observed the action, had laid the 
assailant bleeding on the deck, from a neat wound some- 
where in the neighbourhood of the atlas ; so said the 
doctor. 

The ship was now our own, without a single man on our 
side even wounded, except Jennings, who, being the soul of 
mischief, had no sooner arrived on board, than he proceeded to 
take a shot at something ; no matter what, a goose or a 
Greek, ’twere all the same to him. He soon espied one of 
the latter animals making his escape overboard. “ Oh, you 
runaway vagabond, stop,” cried Jennings, with a drawn 
sword in one hand, and a cocked pistol in the other, taking 
a hop, skip, and a jump to reach him. But it would have 
been a queer Greek that owned no fright at such an appa- 
rition, and the one in question drew from his belt a reeking 
carving-knife, flung it at Jennings, and then leapt overboard. 
“ Hope I don’t intrude,” cried the mid, skipping in vain 
from the culinary weapon, for it raised the skin of his right- 
hand thumb. Giving it a sort of flip, and popping it into 
his mouth, away he flew again, bellowing forth, “ If ever I 
do another good-natured action, if ever I do — Oh, you 
brute, you’re gone,” looking wistfully at the departed Hy- 
driot, as he dived through the clear water ; “ but I’ll have a 
pop at you ;” and, having discharged his pistol, he picked 
up the carving-knife as a trophy. 


CAVENDISH ; OR, 


‘204 

On going below, a gun was found shotted and pointing 
into the hold, with the intention of sinking the ship in 
extremity. This was immediately dismounted, the cables 
cut, the prize towed out of the harbour, and in ten minutes 
not a boat was floating in the lately crowded bay. We 
had possession of them all. But where, you ask, are the 
slain Greeks ? — Come on board the Talthorpe with me. 

The boats pushed off from the ship, — the pistols fired by 
the pirates were returned by musketry from the boats. At 
this moment a shot was discharged from the window of a 
cafe , and in the next an eighteen-pounder from our quarter- 
deck broke in upon the silence of the coffee-cups, and sent 
the old building tumbling in on them. The chain which 
had bound the seamen or marines on board, was loosened, 
— pop y pop , pop, rap , rap, rap, — resounded along the rocks ; 
and so eager were the men on our main- deck to have a 
hand in it, that it was with the greatest difficulty they could 
be restrained from firing, even though their shot would 
have killed more John Bulls than Hellenes. Any poor 
wight who happened to show himself was picked down 
instanter ; much to Captain Sawyer’s annoyance, who gave 
loud and repeated orders to cease. 

One midshipman in particular persisted in paying no 
attention, and continued blazing away as coolly as if in 
Laing’s shooting-gallery. — “ What’s that fellow’s name ? — 

Sir, Mr. , you young bloodhound ! cease firing directly, 

and make your men do the same,” shaking his gold-laced 
cap at him, till we all expected to see it flying at the mid- 
shipman’s head. 

It is astonishing and lamentable to see the thirst men 
have for slaughter ; but we want a war to rub our itch for 
glory. The fate of one poor fellow, which I learnt from 
those on board, was very lamentable. A spectator, he had 
been standing behind a sort of bastion, when the melee 
commenced ; and instead of remaining under its cover, he 
got frightened and took to his heels. His road over the 
rocks lav through what had once been a covered way ; but 
time and neglect had partly demolished the wall, so that 
here and there came an exposed gap of from twenty to a 
hundred yards. It appears, that from his running we had 
taken him to be one of the pirates, and as such considered 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 205 

him fair game. Consequently his appearance at one of 
these breaches was the signal for a volley from the marines, 
who were waiting to have him. Every ball that was fired 
could be seen taking effect, by the splinters of mud, stone, 
or mortar that it made around him — still he was unhurt. 
It was horrible to see the poor wretch running for his life 
— what must have been his situation ! for an instant he 
stumbled — fell on his knee — a shot took a splinter from the 
wall close to his head — another flung the dust into his face 
— again he recovered himself, and pursued his flight for a 
little distance, protected by the wall. This was not to con- 
tinue long ; he had no sooner emerged and begun to climb 
the rocks, where his whole person was exposed, than he was 
again assailed by a merciless shower of balls — he faltered 
and stooped for a moment, as though to kneel upon the 
rocks. But, alas ! the vital spark had been too rudely dealt 
with ; a ball had struck him — he lost his balance, tottered 
backward, and, streaming with blood, came rolling down 
the rugged descent. His feet now remained uppermost, and 
the rock, on which part of his body reclined, was dabbled 
over with the ruddy fluid. Slowly the ensanguined stream 
of life welled from his wound, and bathing its owner's face 
in purple, ebbed in a little rill towards the sea : — 

There sank as brave a Galiongi 

As e’er at Mecca bowed the knee. 

This was more than enough to disgust one with the 
“ trade of war.” 

“ Well, youngsters,” said Stretcher, with a demoniacal 
grin on his countenance, to two boys who were looking on, 
not much amused, “ the first time you’ve seen blood spilt 
on purpose — this is a trifle — lots more of it before you’ve 
done.” — “ Yes,” whispered one to the other ; “ if you were 
there in his stead, ’twould give me some pleasure to take a 
pop at you.” 

Notwithstanding the numerous and angry threats of the 
Greeks to send a fire-ship among us, we passed that night 
in security, with our prizes at Garden Bay — excepting, by- 
the-bye, an alarm of Straw’s, who, perhaps, having drank 
too deeply and gone to sleep in his favourite hammock-net- 
ting, rather too soundly, was infected with the schoolmas- 


206 


CAVENDISH , OR, 


ter’s phantasmagoria, and awoke, vowing that he perceived 
a brhlot bearing down on us, laden with forty flaming flam- 
beaux. On nearer inspection, however, this apparition 
turned out to be some Greeks in a bombard, flaying a pig 
by torch-light. 

By the most accurate accounts on the next day, the num- 
bers of those hors de combat amounted to seven and a half 
? — nearly ; the latter fraction being caused by a cannon-shot 
entering a tailor's workshop, and putting an end to four 
schneiders ; and we ascertained, that had the project of 
cutting her out in the night been executed, it would have 
been at a considerable loss ; there being assembled on board, 
to defend her, no less than ninety ruffians. The pirate 
Zaccha, I had nearly forgotten to say, escaped. He was 
seen leaving his vessel on the approach of the Talthorpe 
armed to the teeth, and splendidly habited. It was all, how- 
ever, blood poured out in vain for, on the prize being sent 
down to Malta, she was detained a twelvemonth. The pri- 
soners, having been fed at the expense of government, and 
gained the benefit of learning Maltese, were then sent up 
the Archipelago, in order, I suppose, that they might com- 
mit fresh piracies, pillage, and even rapine , with impunity. 
This is the course extended to all. So much for British 
justice in foreign colonies, where the lives of English sub- 
jects are too often allowed to be sacrificed with impunity. 

Our next destination was Corfu, where we had the delight 
of lying in quarantine during the whole of our stay. 
This, however, consisted only of ten days, five of which it 
rained incessantly, two were fine, and during the remainder 
it continued to blow such an unceasing gale, that great diffi- 
culty was experienced in riding it out, with two anchors 
ahead, and a hundred and eighty fathoms of chain cable. 

These unfortunate concatenations were in some degree 
made up to us, by our being able to lay in a store of fresh 
provisions, among which the Corfuot bread, of triangular 
shape, and the excellently- preserved salt butter, from Tri- 
este, ranked as articles of high consideration. I beg your 
pardon, reader, for talking of such subjects ; but I cannot 
help indulging myself in the reminiscence of those days, 
when such articles were to be prized, sighed for, and not 
obtained. 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


207 


The allowance, be it known to the polite world, which 
England the great — she who gives millions to placemen, 
and who pensions with thousands the sons, uncles, brothers, 
cousins, mothers, aents, and sisters of our cormorant 
“ secretary birds'* * — I say this great state, which is nothing 
if it owns not the first navy in the world, and rules the sea 
with iron thunderbolts, allows to her maritime officers and 
defenders the following sumptuous breakfast : an inefficient 
quantity of black tea, of almost the lowest quality, no milk, 
an insufficiency of sugar — and that a .very course descrip- 
tion — with biscuit, which not unfrequently is in such an ad- 
vanced state of decomposition, that it gives birth to animal 
life. In plain English, you have to watch very narrowly 
the bread you intend to eat, or the inhabitant animalcules 
would walk away, house and all, on their backs. Moreover, 
there is no butter ! 

“ Can it be believed ?” I hear some of my readers exclaim. 

“ Go to sea and try,” I respond. The meal of tea is simply 
breakfast over again, and dinner is on the same magnificent 
scale. The pay of a youngster on first joining is not sufficient 
even to defray his mess-money, being much below that of 
a common lacquey ; and this is the existing state of H. M. 
navy in the nineteenth century ! Proh pudor ! Look at 
an ensign in the army, wretchedly as he is paid, yet even in 
his case behold the difference. 

To return, we sailed for Corfu with infinite delight — so 
delightful, indeed, was the anticipation, that the night before 
our arrival at this port the caterer of the berth was heard to 
exclaim in his sleep, “ Soft tack,f German butter, Westpha- 
lian hams, and lemon brandy. Oh ! oh ! oh ! mv Heavens, 
oh ! ” 

In commiseration of those of my brother officers, whose 
lot it is (and like Mrs. Lot of old, it is a very salt one) still 
to exist upon such fare, I think it right to bring forward 
these facts, as I am sure there is one who would willingly 
earn the fame of remedying them, provided they were brought • 
before him, and the alternatives suggested. 

While my retired state allows me leisure for the amuse- 

* For a beautiful wood-cut of this bird devouring a snake, see the 
‘•Tower Menagerie,” a work lately published. 

4 Soft bread. ’ 


208 CAVENDISH ; OR, 

ment of my pen, I indulge my humour, if only for the sake 
of contrast with former constraint, much in the spirit of a 
certain boatswain, who, to do him justice, must have had 
some considerable knowledge of human feeling. 

This man had just been paid off from a large frigate, com- 
manded by some tartar, who made no scruple of sending 
for his warrant-officers at all hours of the night. This sla- 
very, therefore, was past ; and having done with superior 
officers for the present, our boatswain might sleep the night 
out in security. But this was not sufficient for this moral 
epicure ; and to enjoy the luxury to the utmost, he gave 
orders to his boy to come and shake him by the shoulder 
every morning at three o’clock, saying, “ Sir, the captain 
wants you on the forecastle immediately.” Accordingly the 
boy called him, as he desired, when he gruffly growled 
out, 

“ Holloa ! holloa ! what’s tne matter now ? ” 

“ Captain wants you, sir, on deck directly.” 

“ Are you sure he wants me ? ” 

“ Oh, yes, sir, wants you very bad indeed.” 

“ Is there a h — 1 of a rout up there ? ” 

“ Yes, sir, a terrible fuss, sure/y : there’s the fore-yard 
gone in the slings ; the gammoning of the bowsprit stranded ; 
one of the cat- heads carried away, and the starboard bow- 
port stove in.” 

“ Then you’re positive he’s hard up for want of me ?” 

“ Yes, sir, sure.” 

“ Then go and d his eyes from me, boy, tell him I 

won’t come ! ” 


CHAPTER XXIV. 

For though in dreadful whirls we hung, 

High on the broken wave, 

I know thou wert not slow to hear, 

Nor impotent to save. Addison. 

On the tenth day the gale departed, and so did we, without 
my being able to get ashore and renew my remembrances 
of the many pretty faces I had so often seen when here in 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


209 

the Niobe. I shall not soon forget the evening of our first 
entrance. We had a nice old signal-man, who was rather 
poetical ; and having stumbled against Gray’s Elegy, it 
struck him, on hearing the numerous chimes, that these 
must be the Corfu bells, that 

Toll the knell of parting day. 

But to return from the Niobe to the Talthorpe. On the 
Wednesday following we were off the island of Paxo. The 
day had been cloudy, but the weather was moderate. 
Towards eight o’clock, I was pacing the deck with the mate 
of the watch, Neville I think ; while Captain Sawyer and 
the officer. Bob Straw, were walking on the other. We 
had been standing on the lee-gangway, mutely gazing on 
the waves, which, agitated by our bow, came rushing past 
in angry foam. In idea, I was revisiting spots now absent 
— reacting scenes for ever flown ; but the affections and 
feelings of a former day seemed fresh as the breeze that 
played in my face, or the newly- disturbed froth on the billows 
beneath me. It is a hard, hard lesson to teach the heart 
forgetfulness ! Not all the pleasures of my profession could 
draw the soul from its once fostered feelings of early attach- 
ment. I could almost believe that there is something in 
first-love beyond the mere force of an affection that is past ; 
and, once withered, it becomes, in the beautiful words of 
Moore — 

One fatal remembrance, one sorrow that throws 

Its bleak shade alike o’er our joys and our woes ; 

To which life nothing darker or brighter can bring,. 

For which joy hath no balm, and affliction no sting. 

It is almost in vain that other and more powerful attrac- 
tion may be sought : this feeling maintains its character to 
the end ; and, in the midst of enjoyment, in the turn of the 
waltz, while yet the arm encircles the heart of another, a 
sigh will burst forth to the remembrance of joys that are — 
oh ! fatal word, — now gone for ever ! — perhaps owing their 
charm to the impossibility of their recall. 

“ Cavendish, your thoughts are sad.” 

“ Not so sad as yours !” 

“ How do you know that ?” 

“ Because I am older ; and life, as far as 1 have found it, 

p 


210 . CAVENDISH ; OR, 

contains four stages of the feelings. The first and earliest 
is glory ; the second is moody melancholy ; the third is 
love ; the fourth is humour : a little hysterical it may be, — 
but nevertheless, ’tis humour. These are the grades and 
changes which have taken place in my feelings, and I am 
barely nineteen ! Now, yours must be an earlier stage. 
Have you passed through glory ?” 

“ O yes ; sick of it long ago.” 

“ Then you are in the second stage.” 

“ You are right ; I never observed this. But will it 
bear the test withal ?” 

“O no ! — some may be of slower growth, some quicker; 
but I think those who are rightly constituted, and thrown 
on the world at an early age, will find its truth. At first 
we are naturally aspiring ; that is glory. Disappointment 
succeeds, begetting melancholy. The heart, now softened, 
tunes to love : this withered, shows how light the joys of 
the world are ; and so we turn to mirth — laugh over the 
achings of a withered heart, and jeer at all !” 

“ And which, Cavendish, since you have experienced 
each, do you esteem the most ?” 

“ Love, decidedly, Neville — love ! It unites all four, 
more or less ; humour less, perhaps, than the others.” 

“ Then, according to your account, that is yet to come. 
As you say, mirth is hysterical. After all, what is this 
life ? 4 Enjoy yourself here, and be damned in the next !’ 

says the priest. ‘ No/ rejoins the sceptic, ‘ we are ascetic 
in this world ; and, should the next be an ideal one, your 
labour is all lost !’ * Then keep a middle path/ says Solo- 

mon. ‘ I cannot do it !' cries human nature. 4 Look 
around you/ whispers thought ; ‘ behold there is nothing 
but temptation and weakness without ; sorrow, sin, and 
shame within!’ And can man whose powers of thought 
must be employed — can he be happy ? Poets of the east, 
*tis only in forgetfulness — Contentment ! — insipid milk-and- 
water word, I hate thee ! Look into the breast of him who 
owns it : there shall be found its shadow only on the sur- 
face, beneath some flimsy veil of ignorance or pretence, to 
cover the deep stings of thought and memory. That veil 
is — Sadak’s long- sought treasure !” 

“ Watch, shorten sail !” shouted Straw ; and away sprang 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 211 

my fellow-philosopher, as mate of the watch, to superintend 
the duty on the forecastle ; and, having nothing better to 
do, I followed him. 

“ Man the top-gallant clue-lines and jib-down haul ! — 
Hands by the to’-gallant sheets — to’-gallant and jib hal- 
liards ! — In to’-gallant sails !” — Obedient to these orders, 
down went the top-gallant sails, and swiftly they were taken 
in. Still the squall increased ; and from the quarter whence 
it came, the heavens were all darkness — the sea one wide 
unbounded view of boiling surf ! Meanwhile, Neville and 
myself were expecting the order to haul down the jib, for 
the boom which supported it was bending like a switch. 
The squall became more violent. “ Watch, reef top-sails !” 
was the pipe. Straw had evidently forgotten the jib, 
which, standing such neglect no better than a damsel of 
seventeen, became overpowered by its feelings, — burst its 
o’erstrained heart ; and then, as is usual in such cases, 
away went the very stand and stamina of its life. The jib 
and flying-jib booms came floating alongside to leeward, 
still attached to the ship by the appending gear. 

It was no hour of mirth — gust after gust succeeded one 
another with augmented violence. Neville’s station was 
now in the main-top, and he hastened there to get the sail 
reefed. Crash, crash, crash ! was the continued sound 
around us. Each sail splitting into a thousand fragments, 
made pennons for the roaring tempest. 

“ Ease off the lee fore-brace,” shouted the boatswain. 
The captain of the after- guard was about to execute the 
order, when a still more terrific gust came ; the rope tore 
through his hands, and the fore-topsail yard was snapped in 
the quarter. 

The gale had now arrived at such a degree of fury, that 
the seamen were unable to lay out on the yards. Every 
thing presented a scene of horror and confusion ; the latter 
solely from the stunning noise of the sails, and the increased 
darkness of the night. “ All hands shorten sail,” cried the 
captain. The main-top was my station ; I repaired there, 
getting thoroughly drenched on my way, from the spray, 
which was now one continuous sheet of vapour. 

On reaching the top, I beheld a view which imagination 
can never conceive, or experience wish to realize. The 

p 2 


212 


CAVENDISH ; OR, 


sails were one complete set of shreds, the ship was lying 
almost on her beam-ends, while the channel to which the 
rigging was secured, interrupting the flow of water, as it 
was turned off her bow, sent it rushing through the gang- 
way-port entrance, flooding along the quarter-deck. If 
the eye looked down, it was to see ourselves suspended over 
the angry waves beneath ; for, owing to the prostration of 
the hull, the masts were projected over the leeward side — 
if upwards, the scene was almost as appalling ; and super- 
stition might picture to itself, as its glance was directed to 
the black and frowning quarter whence the hurricane came, 
some demoniacal forms of malice — the oriental genii of the 
damned, the fabled foes of man, from whose unrelenting 
lips issued forth the blast which was to annihilate us. If, 
stricken and subdued, the sight rested on objects more im- 
mediately around, it could only behold men, whose child- 
hood — boyhood — manhood — had been spent upon this ele- 
ment, shrinking into themselves, and clinging to the mast, 
paralysed at a sight such as none had seen before. 

While the squall lasted thus violently, reefing the sail was 
out of the question ; it would have been sure destruction. 
Silently we gazed on the distracted ocean, momentarily ex- 
pecting it to become our noteless tomb. “ Such,” thought 
I, “ was the end of the Algerine *— such will be the finale 
of the Talthorpe.” Then rose in magic stillness and 
beauty before me, the garden scene at Naples < The win- 
dow, half repelling, half admitting the moon’s ray, throwing 
into alternate light and shade the lovely, gentle figure of 
her I beheld there. The tempest was unheeded ; I could 
but hear the ringing cadence of her guitar, and the far 
more rich and melancholy melody of her voice. With 
swift but natural transition, memory now led me to the last 
interview, where I beheld her drooping, like the azure gen- 
tianella that folds its beauties from the world before it pines 
away. 

“ Yes, yes, Letitia ! ere I sink upon that briny couch I 
will fold its wave to my bosom, and think my arms encircle 
thee. Around me are life and death, and yet what are 

* She was upset in one of these " white squalls” in Garden Bay. 
Every soul perished. So much for ten-gun brigs. 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


213 


they ? what further do I know of them ? I can meet death 
without playing the coward, and pass through life without 
playing the knave.” Some involuntary impulse compelled 
me, as it were, to turn my head — what did I gaze on ? — 
What ! — no, it could but be a phantasy ; yet fancy owned 
in those features the woe- clad countenance of the marchesa. 
Away ! it could not be ; and rousing my spirits, which this 
ideal object had palsied, I sprang out to the earing and com- 
menced reefing the sail. The fury of the hurricane had 
passed, and the men quickly followed my example. 

Meanwhile what was the scene in our berth below ! Two 
of the mids were playing chess, the others fighting old 
battles, and discussing wine and water. Presently they felt 
the old ship heel on her side considerably. It was only a 
sudden sea — but no ; she continued to yield to it, till at last 
the horizontal had approached so near the perpendicular, 
that glasses, books, desks and chessmen were flying across 
the table towards the altered centre of gravity. Hark ! — 
yes, there are the sails splitting with terrific sound, while 
the roaring of the wind through the rigging prevented any 
thing more from being distinguished. Every one was 
hastening towards the deck in the greatest hurry, and the 
boatswain’s pipe of all hands to shorten sail only expedited 
them the more. 

The ship by this time was in such a position that it was 
with the greatest difficulty, and only by clinging to the 
pillars or “ stanchions” which supported the main- deck, 
that you could get forward. As the first rush towards the 
hatchway was made, the school-table slipped from its situa- 
tion (it was suspended by iron supporters over-head), and 
sliding between two steps of the quarter-deck ladder, com- 
pletely barred any further advance. By a singular coin- 
cidence (I am rather inclined to be superstitious, and have 
noted it down in my collection as an omen of the future) 
the schoolmaster, who had somewhat less self-possession 
than the rest, was the first to scamper on deck. At the 
identical moment, when his head was barely on a level with 
the wood- work of the hatchway above, the table, either 
knowing its master’s phiz, or it may be by some strong 
magnetic attraction, or wishing to hint its claim to be saved, 
or desirous of punishing its president, or perhaps as a token 


214 CAVENDISH ; OR, 

(as I said before) of what was yet within the womb of time 
— I say, w T hether it was one or all of these reasons which 
led to the result, I know not ; but this I tell you, forth flew 
the table with indecent rage, at this crisis, and taking the 
pedagogue under the chin, pinned him to the opposite 
coaming * of the hatchway, seeming to entertain no small 
intention of hanging him. Ducabore finding his course, 
and the organs of respiration thus impeded, began to kick 
and fling about in the most approved Newgate manner 
below, as his head, just appearing above the surface, grew 
black as night : while with open mouth and distorted 
features he vainly endeavoured to explain his situation. 

“ Why the deuce don’t you get up, you stupid fool ?” 
said one beneath, hitting him a blow in the side. “ Get up, 
Ducabore, you donkey, why do you stop up the gangway in 
that manner ?” 

“ Pull the fool down,” said Doykes, laying hold of the 
unfortunate hang-dog’s coat-tail, which, proving very fragile, 
came off in his hand. The ship was now struck by a heavy 
sea, and the impetus being continued to Ducabore’s head, it 
slipped from its position, merely having the animal organs 
slightly scalped ; the table being also released, it affection- 
ately followed its master even to the ground, imagining that 
since he was not to be hung, he might yet be decapitated. 

But this was not to be ; drowning seemed his reserve, for 
knocking down some half a dozen others around, they all 
rolled into the lee channels, where the water was bubbling 
up from the scuppers and ports to nearly the depth of 
eighteen inches. Here their misfortunes ended, and scramb- 
ling on foot again, they at length reached the deck, where the 
fearful height to which the waves had suddenly reached, in- 
creased still more awfully the scene of disorder already de- 
scribed. 

Even old stagers were staggered, while the new hands 
opened their eyes to see, ears to hear, and lips to pray. No 
time was however lost, or even misused ; old Stretcher was 
quite in his element, and was literally, to use a seaman’s ex- 
pression, “ as busy as the devil in a gale of wind,” while 
the captain fully proved himself a match for any situation ; 
indeed, had it not been for his voice, I know not how we 
* Coaming, a raised edge — a border. 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


215 

should have put the ship to rights again. Old Stretcher, it 
is true, was bawling his lungs out through his speaking 
trumpet, but roaring in the same bass key as the tempest, 
his voice was drowned ; whereas the captain’s, being several 
notes more in the tenor, could be distinctly heard from the 
contrast.* John Roy, whose activity and knowledge of his 
profession yielded to none, was sent into the foretop, in 
order to get the sail unbent, send the topsail yard down, and 
get it replaced ; which he accomplished of course ; while 
the captain, Stretcher, and Willstand, gave him the neces- 
sary directions from the forecastle. You ask, perhaps, 
where Straw was ? — pooh ! he returned, to be sure, to the 
quarter-deck, to counterbalance his inutility by making as 
much noise as possible. 

“Mr. Stretcher!” 

“Sir.” 

“ Make the ship snug, call the watch, and splice the main- 
brace, all hands. ”t 

As Jack has, from time immemorial, found it necessary to 
treat resolution, we could not think of remaining at sea after 
such a squall, and a few days more found us at anchor in the 
bay of that far-famed island iEgina. 

The total remains of Grecian naval supremacy consist of 
a few scattered barks, which are traders in port, and pirates 
at sea. The inhabitants of Angina are, like the rest of the 
Greeks, sufficiently low. Heaven knows, to warrant the sup- 
position of their progenitors having sprung from ants. In 
the harbour we found the Cymbrian ; and having made a 
shooting party, we set off to take a view of the temple of 
Jupiter, of which Turner has made so beautiful a painting, 
assisted of course by the writer’s and painter’s privilege — * 
the imagination ; “ Poeticis et pictoribus licet.” 

Still, however, the site of the ruin is very grand : roman- 
tically situated on the brow of the mountain, looking over 
the harbour in the southward and westward direction, from 
hence you may behold “ the gulf, the rock of Salamis.” 
The Acropolis of Athens is not, if I remember aright, to be 
seen, being too far to the northward. Around are piled 

* This was powerfully recalled in reading “ Anne of Geierstein,” the 
opening scene on the mountain. 

t Serving out extra spirits to the crew. 


CAVENDISH ; OR, 


216 

Nature’s richest architecture, masses of rock, from whose 
crevices spring forth a fine shrub, somewhat like the eglan- 
tine, with many others equally beautiful. While we were all 
busily employed in viewing with veneration the remains be- 
fore us, so often rendered sacred by the fumes of sacrifice, 
when seers drew omens from the mutilated carcases of ani- 
mals, making war or peace as these dictated, without the 
trouble of securing borough-interest and gaining a majority, 
our attention was arrested by a low sort of yell, and tw T o 
animals rushed from underneath the ruins. One of the 
party immediately fired, and the rest gave chase. Shot after 
shot was discharged at them, and one of the beasts fell, but, 
rising again, secured itself in a cave among the rocks. They 
had both escaped : those who saw them declared they were 
jackalls, but as my glance at them was very imperfect, I 
could not determine to what interesting class the fugitives 
belonged. 

Our chase had brought us to the edge of a valley, securely 
sheltered within which was a monastery — no bad sight to 
hungry sportsmen. 

On arriving at the building we found the monks perfect 
patterns of poverty and dirt. Their reverences humbly as- 
sured us that as holy men they had nothing to offer, besides 
some stale bread and Grecian cheese — alias, English chalk. 

This was very distressing ; but Willstand being suffi- 
ciently a man of the world to understand their meaning, en- 
tered into a conversation with one of them respecting ancient 
coins, taking care to pull from his pocket some Spanish 
dollars in company with the antiques. The monk put for- 
ward as interpreter, with true Grecian instinct, inadvertently 
took up the silver image of Carolus, for which he owned a 
vast predilection in preference to the iron Spartan money. 
He then recollected that they had some goat’s flesh sent by 
the merest accident for the superior, and a flask of wine 
that came for a sick brother. Accordingly we entered, 
and were supplied with a tolerable kid-pastv, and wine 
in abundance, when myself and two others having 
wandered into some part of the building, sacred from the 
gaze of intruders, we met three of the prettiest Grecian 
women (almost) that I ever saw. They in their turn were 
nowise disconcerted, but seemed rather to admire the 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


217 

change of English faces, since they freely bestowed a part- 
ing embrace on each ; which we, as thorough travellers, 
being well acquainted with the manners of the nation in 
which we were, as well as recalling the proverb of “ Do at 
Rome/’ &c., repaid by a shower of paras ; I, Manvers Ca- 
vendish, being satisfied in my own mind that Boccaccio has 
written truly, but in vain, since the life of a holy friar is 
little altered for the better : — I don’t see how it should be. 

Shortly after this we returned to the outer harbour of 
Poros. While lying there, Lord Cochrane, who com- 
manded the Greek frigate,* came in and anchored at night. 
The row and the riot were inconceivable, but he had effected 
a great deal with Greeks. His frigate had been built in Ame- 
rica, and was, without exception, the noblest I ever saw, chris- 
tened, I believe, in the language of the country, — “ Hope.” 
Alas ! it was to hope they trusted too much. Such a ship 
was almost thrown away upon the Greeks. There was also 
(in the other harbour) an English steam-boat, as perfect a 
disgrace to England as the frigate was a credit to America ; 
the frigate being adequate to do every thing but speak, and 
the steam-boat being able to do nothing else. The Greeks 
tried to make her “ go,” but she — laughed at them. 


CHAPTER XXV. 

The tale is founded upon circumstances now less common in the 
east than formerly ; either because the ladies are more circumspect 
than in the “ olden time,” or because the Christians have better fortune 
or less enterprise. 

Advertisement to the Giaour. 

A day had long been named for swearing Admiral Lord 
Cochrane and General Church into their respective com- 
mands. The former as generalissimo and commander-in- 
chief of the sea and land forces, the latter as general of the 
army under his lordship. Every one wished of course to 
behold the inauguration^ which was to take place at the 
little village of Damola, situated on the rise of a high moun- 
tain in the Morea, about six miles distant from Poros, and 


* Since blown up by Admiral Miaulis. 


218 cavendish; or, 

three from the sea. All the chiefs of note were there, from 
Prince Mavrocordato to Mr. Castles. His lordship seems to 
be one of those on whom, like Scottish Mary, Time for- 
bears to lay his hand. His age appeared to be turned of 
forty. A penetrating gaze — a set of features somewhat 
sun-burnt, but expressive of humour and resolution, deco- 
rated by that sort of hair which the northerns denominate 
sandy (perhaps indicative of the fire which burn within), 
completed his intellectual representative — denominated the 
face. His person was well made, though tall. General 
Church also had an exterior ; but as he is nothing near so 
high in the world of note, and was much about the same as 
other men, I shall not take the trouble to describe him. 

As a piece of courtesy, his lordship asked the chiefs 
whether he should swear his allegiance on the bible or 
the sword. The latter was deemed, under all circumstances, 
as most fitting ; and that was chosen. When the ceremony 
was over, the crowd dispersed, and in the evening Neville 
and myself dined in the cabin with Prince Mavrocordato. 

His highness spoke Italian chiefly, and sometimes French ; 
seemed a mild, sensible, kind old man, while the only thing 
that struck me as singular, was the duty of his Arnaout slave, 
who waited on him after dinner with his two pipes ; first lit 
the tobacco with a few whiffs, and having drawn it from his 
mouth, and passed the end through his fingers, it was im- 
mediately transferred to the lips of his princely master. 

“D me, there’s a great deal in habit!” whispered 

Stretcher, touching my elbow. The mouth-pieces are of 
amber, the chief recommendation of which is that moisture 
instantly dries on it ; hence this custom. 

Shortly subsequent to this. Lord Cochrane sailed on an 
expedition against Alexandria. His force consisted of two 
fine brigs, besides his frigate ; and on reaching the har- 
bour, he had proceeded past the forts which guard the en- 
trance, when the breeze failed. Annoyed as he was, there 
existed no alternative ; he therefore ordered the brigs to be 
set on fire, and allowed to drift in as close as possible. One 
of them drove on a shoal, the other fastened to a small ves- 
sel, which it consumed. In the meantime an English man- 
of-war brig lying there became alarmed for herself, and 
hoisted her topsails to the mast, ready for decamping ; and 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


219 


Lord Cochrane, seeing that envious chance had baffled his 
intrepidity and skill, was obliged to ensure his return by 
departing at once. The plan in boldness scarcely yielded 
to any, even of that officer’s exploits, and was on the point 
of being crowned with success. Had the fire-ships drifted 
into the fleet, or had the wind served, we should have been 
saved the battle of Navarin, since none of the ships had 
any powder on board with which to defend themselves. 
Neither were the batteries supplied with ammunition. Not 
that this takes away from Lord Cochrane’s merit : he was 
unaware of the fact. 

It is very sad that our service should lose an officer of 
such approved talent — such skill — such daring. Hopes 
were held forth of his reinstatement. Since this was penned, 
a tardy act of justice has restored to our navy one of the 
brightest ornaments it ever possessed. 

The next day the pacha commanding the silent batteries 
was mutely served with a cravat for his negligence. 

Reader, didst ever see Smyrna ? Perhaps you have — 
perhaps you have not. If the former, you will be glad to 
renew your acquaintance with it ; if the latter, you may not 
dislike a glance at it. ’Tis a monstrous pretty place — to 
my feeling. There’s pride at morn, and joy at noon, and 
sadness for the eve, when the sun yet lingers to depart, and 
touches, with his richest ray, the numerous tall minarets, 
soaring above their low-born neighbours, from the mosques 
of Allah, which form such a marked and beautiful feature 
of this oriental place ; and “ haughtily they plead’’ for the 
tenets of Mahommed. When the ear is saluted with the 
solemn and melodious sound of “ Allah hu ” it recalls so 
strongly, so sorrowfully to the mind the departed spirit that 
“ built itself a home” amias tthese sunny climes of enthu- 
siasm, and whose pictures bear such an undeniable stamp of 
likeness and of truth. Who that ever sojourned on its 
classic ground could disown a love of Turkey ? its soft, ener- 
vating, luxurious customs, are enchanting ; and the breast 
might be pardoned for wishing itself a monarch over such 
a set of men, necessarily the finest (physically speaking) 
nation in the world.* Turkey is almost one unvaried field 

* Since this was originally written, I have noticed in a recent re- 
view of the Hon. Major Keppel’s “ Passage of the Balcan,” a passage 


CAVENDISH J OR, 


220 

for improvement and glory. Yes, yes, this is the land ; how 
can you quarrel with a spot in which you get 

All kinds of luxuries for fees 

So small they’re scarce detected: 

Where man may love and live at ease, 

And madness is respected ? 

N o Brompton villa here to terrify a man ; no lawyer's 
suit “ de lunatico inquirendo” because you help your mother 
with some money;* no constables come prying to your 
house, to lock the owner in his chamber because he wears 
a broad-brimmed hat. Oh, no ! nor legal man dares poke 
himself betwixt your better half and self, because you have 
strange fancies in your brain. Tis true there is no habeas 
corpus, and the sultan takes queer notions of making his 
subjects shorter by the head ; but, nevertheless, Turkey is 
a very pleasant place — if you conduct yourself properly — as 
I always make a point of doing. 

Smyrna is situated on a gentle rise, gradually meeting 
the water in the form of a crescent, where it terminates in 
a quay, continued round the port, not less, I should think, 
than a mile in extent. On the right is the Turkish bury- 
ing-ground, announced by several large groups of cypress, 
pointing in solemn sadness to the heaven above ; a ramble 
among which is as melancholy a pleasure as Smyrna affords. 
On the left (this is viewing the town from the sea), or south 
side, are the numerous consulates and houses of English 

in which he says the Turks are a weak race. With due deference, I 
differ ; he may have had better opportunities of judging, certainly. 
Those I saw were superb men, never less than five feet seven, well 
made in proportion. Reason bears out this view ; their laws of plural- 
ity of wives and unbounded concubinage make them so ; for we know 
that though in Europe (polite, I may say) a man does not always choose 
a wife for her beauty, yet that quality generally determines his choice 
of a mistress ; we also know that these last in Turkey are mostly tall 
and beautifully-made Georgians and Circassians. Now, for obvious 
reasons, the offspring would be more likely to spring from these ; and 
it is only fair to suppose they would take after their parents— 
how can they help being a fine nation ? Their clothes augment their 
bulk , it is true ; but this I know, I never saw finer figures or finer 
limbs — such calves and legs as the men have — “ Enough to make a 
chairman stare,” says the song. 

* The reader will remember the trial of Davis, and also the broad- 
brimmed hat story. 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


2*21 

residents, Mr. Worry to boot ; to whose dinner I intend to 
take the reader — when he invites the author. On the brow 
of the hill which overlooks the town, are the ruins of an old 
castle, of which time has scarcely left a legendary tale. 
The bay is constantly full of merchant-vessels from all quar- 
ters of the globe, the Turkey trade being well known as 
one of the most lucrative that the mart affords ; — witness 
Morden College on Blackheath, for decayed Turkey mer- 
chants ; and which, it is said, could never find more than 
three to relieve ! — but can this be believed within five miles 
of London ? 

The day after our arrival we were duly visited by Proveit, 
an old Jew, who makes no inconsiderable profit by bringing 
on board those Turkish bits of finery most likely to entice 
the taste and cash of poor John Bull. Such are, otto of 
roses, Turkish boots and slippers, turban caps, musk, beads 
and ornaments, musk-rats’ tails, and many other items ; 
quickly may be seen gathering round him the officers and 
men, who, though widely separated by distance from those 
the heart own dearest, still select with pleasure some slight 
memento of a foreign land for loves or wives or sisters. It 
is, however, chiefly the mids that are his customers, the men 
being somewhat less alive to the feeling ; and the higher 
grades of officers having it in their power to go ashore and 
purchase the articles from a larger choice at the bazaars. 

Some short time previous to our sailing for Smyrna we 
had received on board, as a great favour, a mid from the 
Cymbrian, named Eglintoun, a fine young man, of consider- 
able promise. To delineate his qualities, I need only say 
that, in the navy, where there are so many points for officers 
to disagree, Eglintoun had won the esteem of all. The 
older members of the berth regarded him as an intelligent 
companion ; the youngsters as a connecting link, who was 
inclined to prevent the tyranny which that place is too often 
the scene of. For instance, in many ships, the oldsters 
compel the junior members to leave their mess-place to go to 
bed , on the instant that the bell sounds eight o’clock. Boys 
of fifteen years of age I have seen treated in this manner ; a 
minute’s delay producing a sound thrashing. Lads, who, 
at their own homes, never thought of retiring till ten, were 
thus replaced in an iron nursery. And why, let me ask ] 


222 


CAVENDISH ; OR, 

Simply for this reason — that those who stayed behind might 
have the fuller opportunity to indulge in conversations of 
obscenity and profanity : not that the morals of the young- 
sters might be spared — no, no ; but lest their tongues, fol- 
lowing the examples of their seniors, should repeat their 
language, and discover their practices to the captain ! One 
single glance shows that this piece of tyranny must be a con- 
stant source of bickering and feud ; — nursed till the boys 
gain the strength of men, without their reason, when a re- 
volt takes place, the just weight of the seniors is lost, 
and license takes the room of oppression. I have seen this, 
and know it.* 

Foremost in this mode of proceeding was Ducabore. He 
took peculiar delight in nursing and repeating morceaux of 
sensuality ; but then — oh ! clever man ! — he always spoke in 
French — before the very scholars, mind you, to whom it 
was his duty to impart that language ! So much was this 
man esteemed, that the youngsters wrote a ballad on him, the 
opening and historical stanza of which was as follows ; 
though its truth may be rather apocryphal, being a quiz upon 
his dress and manners : — 

Air — “ Tm a roving lad” 

Oh, he was a ranting dog’s-meat-man, 

Though he’d only one eye the women to scan ; 

As a convict grey his life began, 

Then from door to door as a postman ran, 

And yet was a tearing dog’s-meat-man. 

A gallivanting dog’s-meat-man, 

While the fish-hags cry, as they lift up their fan,f 
“Get out you brute of a dog’s-meat-man !” 

Twyndle, Roy, Green, Regent, Thread, Eglintoun, Jen- 
nings, and myself, composed the liberal party, and excellent 
messmates they were. Among ourselves “the dog's-meat- 
man” was obliged to drop, in a great measure, his official 
character ; and, at the time of which I am now speaking, I 
think it would have been very difficult to find a berth of 
greater unanimity, or a set of junior officers more deserving 
the pride their captain ever felt for them. Nor can too 
much praise be awarded to him, for his parental care; 

* See Notes on Naval Reform, at the end of the volume. 

f Also styled “the paw,” or “flipper,” meaning to say, the hand. 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


223 

while it can only be regretted that he should have been sur- 
rounded by creatures, who in no small degree perverted his 
intentions by their falsehood in act and word. 

Knowing the danger attendant upon a fair countenance in 
these regions, he never allowed his extreme youngsters to 
go ashore without an oldster to take care of them. 

The third or fourth day after our arrival, Eglintoun and 
myself went on shore in the morning, intending to spend 
the day agreeably, by seeing whatever was for sight ; and 
after dining at the “ hotel de l’Europe,” make our entree at 
the cassino ball given in the evening. It is most amusing 
to observe, as you stroll along, the numerous dresses that 
assemble at this place. First, stiff as steel, in brass and blue 
cloth, come the Austrian officers ; — next, all bows and mo- 
tion, may be seen the French ; — following, you have the 
Armenian, with skin as smooth and beardless as a female’s ; 
while on his head is worn a box, covered with a gaudy serge, 
and having all the appearance of an inverted pyramid. No 
sooner has he passed by, than you espy a Turk — a true be- 
liever, every inch of him ! — a fellow who would refuse to 
laugh, even if you read him Bulwer’s Paul Clifford ! — yes, 
stupid, stern, and most sublime — all hair and turban — very 
little to be made out about his face, save a pair of piercing 
black eyes, with a long protruding nose ; making, as Jerome 
Buonaparte says, such expressive countenances ; though I 
think they would be improved by having a little of the nasal 
prominence spoke-chafed — I don’t mean pulled. 

The inseparable companion of the Turk is his pipe ; and 
as smoking out of the pipe of another is considered a proof 
of the greatest friendship, any stranger, European or not, if 
too economical to buy tobacco, may take a chibouk from the 
mouth of the first man he meets, and puff away with the ut- 
most composure. I have often smiled to think what treat- 
ment a Mussulman would meet with, who attempted to take 
the yard of clay from the mouth of an Englishman, or the 
dudeen from the lips of Paddy. Lastly, you stumble against 
an English mid, all madness, — a British merchant, all pom- 
posity. To the first, Turks, Jews, Christians, and women, 
all look for love or money (the last for both) — but as to the 
merchant — they might as well skin a flint. At the billiard- 
table you may find the embroidering American, who “ calcu- 


224 CAVENDISH ; OR, 

lates that his hackee is ’nation good,” and if you manage to 
escape fighting a duel with him, you must have either an in- 
finity of cowardice or good sense. Brother freemen, this is 
a besetting sin among your officers ; and I tell you so, from 
my respect for you. 

In short, you find Persian, Swede, Hindoo, Negro, Spa- 
niard, Italian, African, French, English, Prussian, Austrian, 
German, Swiss, and Pole ; nay, I doubt not, but with per- 
severance you might even get hold of one of the Anthropo- 
phagi. Thus a Smyrniot need not depart from his own 
door to behold a sample from any nation in the world. This 
I know, I met the man of the moon twice ; now think of this, 
for a fact ! 


CHAPTER XXVI. 

Various their climes, their customs, and produce. Rasselas. 

Reader, wast thou ever in a bazaar ? “ Oh, ves,” you say, 
“ in Baker-street, Oxford Street, and the Soho — .” Phew, 
unworthy to be dignified with the appellation — mere boxes 
of finery. — I mean to shbw you a real oriental true bazaar ; 
so let us saunter on. 

First look above ; you see that the soft light and warmth 
of the sun are admitted, though his scorching noon-day 
glare is shut out by a canopy of canvass, stretching from side 
to side, — the sides themselves being formed, in some places, 
like the temporary booths of a fair, and, in others, in a more 
substantial manner. These you perceive ramify in various 
directions, like the streets of a populous town, some branches 
being devoted to the sale of particular articles, such as 
the cloth-bazaar, the morocco-bazaar, and so on ; and some 
which have stands for fixed commodities. Nothing is want- 
ing, except pretty faces, — these Turkish monopolists seclu- 
ding their women so jealously, as to cause quite “ a famine 
in the land.” This is very sad, and at any moment but this 
H owever — 

This stand in the broad alley before us is, as you may 
observe, the property of a pipe manufacturer. Here are 
bundles of the straightest cher.} -sticks, in all the beauty 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


225 


of their highly -glazed and madder-coloured barks, also 
branches of the jessamine-tree, brought to this perfection of 
growth by the stationing of so many girls in the gardens 
where they grow, with the sole employment of training the 
sprouts in the most direct possible manner — just as some 
mammas are said to do with their fair shoots in a certain 
country in Europe, with the same results — to be made hol- 
low-hearted by the world hereafter, while the most definable 
thing that fills up the vacuum is but the smoke of vanity, 
drawn forth from the central fire of passion, by him whose 
interest is served thereby. When these branches — to resign 
all metaphor — have reached the thickness of the middle fin- 
ger — more or less — they are cut into lengths, of from eight 
feet to one and a half ; those of the cherry-tree are highly 
glazed, those of the jessamine allowed to retain their rough 
cuticle. The purchaser having chosen one of these, it is 
drilled with a steel wire, and the bowl and mouth- piece 
adapted ; which tit-bits you may procure at a price varying 
from five pence to five guineas. 

Next door behold the corner stall of our friend, Jew 
Proveit, where ottos, musk, &c. abound. 

Here we stand before a stall of oranges, citrons, melons, 
pomegranates, and grapes in profusion, — do not taste the 
latter, they are seldom good. Ir'^ed you rarely obtain a 
grape on this station grown in the open air, — if we except 
the Muscatelle, — which is much worth eating. This fruit, 
throughout the Mediterranean, has an odd harshness, which 
maturity does not seem to soften. English hot-house grapes 
far excel them. 

Hark ! is not that an oriental sound which strikes upon 
your ear, making you believe you have dropped asleep over the 
“ Arabian Nights ?” See, it comes from the tray borne on 
that man’s head, a jet d’ orangeade, caused by placing six 
tumblers in a circle, successively struck by a revolving 
clapper, the whole turned by some simple hydraulic power. 
Such a thing in London would make a fortune. 

Here we have arrived at the booths of the Armenians, 
which are built to be stationary. Behold the owners, with 
insignificant countenances, sitting cross-legged, thinking of 
nothing but devotion to their trade ; being in the line of 


226 CAVENDISH ; OR, 

furs, cloths, silks, crapes, &c. This is a sombre, dull- 
looking part ; let us quit it. 

Ah, here we have something far more gay — two of the 
three prismatic colours are in abundance — red and yellow. 
This is an alley of Turkish boots and slippers. Fancy what 
an adorable little foot to find its way into such a tiny 
morocco case — without a soul, Tis true ; for that villain, 
Mahommed, denies all souls to mortal houris, whether for 
their bodies, dinners, or feet. I wish he had been subjected 
to the fire of an English female coterie, composed of five- 
and-twenty unmarried females, each of fifty years. I could 
even pity Mahommed in such a situation : — but to the 
diminutive boots ; gaze on them, and then ask yourself 

What grief could ever rankle 
Before a petticoat with such a peeping ankle ? 

Now we pass to something brighter still, but far less 
lovely. These are the abodes of those who deal in swords 
and other instruments of slaughter, and with them may be 
seen mixed up a stand or two for eastern jewellery. Here 
we arrive opposite a man cutting up Turkish tobacco, much 
in the same way that a groom cuts cinquefoil — by a ma- 
chine ; the latter for horses, the first for mules — no offence 
to my friends of the turban. 

After turnings and windings innumerable, we once more 
breathe the open air. We are in the midst of a square in 
the centre of the huge bazaar. Before us, in oriental gran- 
deur, soars a mosque of white marble. The body, corre- 
spond) ig with that part of an English church, is ornamented 
with pillars ; but where our tower would be, you behold a light 
and graceful minaret, around which the sculptor has turned 
a sort of wreath. It is surmounted with a small square 
platform, whence the muezzin summons the followers of 
the Prophet to their devotions. 

On one side of the square is a department of the bazaar 
which would prove a strong attraction for the fair sex. 
Within it we find the merchants of Bursa, (also styled 
Prusa,) whose silks are manufactured at the place of that 
name, near Constantinople. 

Behold, before us are spread out the gorgeous patterns of 
the eastern loom ; cream colour, scattered with gold — purple 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


227 

with argentine tissue — lilac with a crimson wave, beside a 
host of others on which shine forth resplendently every tint 
that can delight the eye. All their patterns consist of 
curiously-directed lines and figures. Their notion of religion 
forbids them to copy nature for fear of breaking the second 
commandment. It was thus my old drawing-master ac- 
counted for the abortions of my early pencil. 

“ Come, Eglintoun, take up thy purchases, and let us 
find some brat to carry them. ,, 

“ Right, Cavendish. We are not in the West End ; and 
this sun forbids one to drag anything forward besides One- 
Self.” 

Having committed the articles to the charge of a boy, 
and desired he would conduct us to the “ Hotel de 
l’Europe,” — for it is impossible to retrace your way amid 
these interminate intricacies, where every thing is a scene of 
glitter — we sauntered slothfully along, “ well pleased with 
all we saw.” 

While on the road to our hotel, we arrived opposite the 
public baths. Such a luxury, after our walk, was not to be 
resisted ; and, having sent our little porter forward with 
his burden, we entered. The Turkish baths are divided 
into two departments, respectively appropriated for either 
sex. The first room is of a very large size, fitted up in the 
most luxurious manner — sofas, carpets, divans — every ap- 
pendage of eastern comfort for those who choose to pay the 
sum, a mere trifle. The walls are generally papered in the 
Frank style, representing different scenes, such as the Per- 
sians proceeding to offer sacrifice to the rising sun in the 
temple at Balbec. At the entrance is a cafe on a small 
scale ; pipes and hookahs unnumbered, coffee, sherbet, and 
ice in abundance. In the centre the sofas are congregated 
together, and so arranged that he who is reclining on one 
is perfectly screened from the observation of the others. 
Here you unrobe ; a dressing-gown, or large shawl, is pro- 
vided, and you follow a conductor through a door opposite 
to the one by which you entered. You then find yourself 
in a stone room, whose temperature is fifteen degrees higher 
than the last. A moment’s pause accustoms you to the 
change, and on you proceed into a third, several degrees 
higher still. A second pause and you enter the bath. It 

Q 2 


228 


CAVENDISH ; OR, 


is a large vaulted stone chamber, nearly of equal size with 
the first. The roof is pierced with numerous holes of a 
peculiar star-like shape, and as you look through the dense 
steam with which the place is filled, at the blue firmament 
above, it presents the idea of a gauze robe flung over an 
azure- spotted dress. At first the extreme rarefication of 
the air is such that the lungs feel unable to inhale a suffi- 
cient quantity. This soon wears off, and as the eye becomes 
accustomed to the greyish light, it discerns a stone com- 
partment in each corner containing a flat board, elevated at 
one end, and a pipe of hot water to be used at pleasure. At 
the end of the apartment is a bath with apparatus for re- 
filling. The pavement, which is also of stone, inclines 
towards the centre, where plays a fountain of warm water, 
under the fall of which may be seen reclining a denuded 
Turk ; at a little distance from whom is placed the glass of 
his hookah ; the flexible pipe being made water-tight, lies 
on the stone, and communicates with his mouth, every five 
minutes sending forth the ambrosial fumes of the eastern 
weed ; and thus he enjoys the very acme of Turkish indo- 
lence and delight. 

Each new comer secures to himself (if unoccupied) one 
of the corner compartments, and laying himself at length 
on the board, first ascertains that the water is not too hot, 
and then putting his head under the stream, allows it to 
flow as undisturbed as the waters of Elle. Who could 
move a finger for^himself? No man who has a true 
poetical idea of luxury. Oh, no, there are some half-a- 
dozen Nubians very willing to wait upon you. The finite 
process is shampooning, which consists in being decuticlized, 
and having every joint in your body stretched till it cracks 
again. 

The bath is now over, and, wrapt in your mantle, you 
return to dress on the sofa, taking your pipes and coffee, 
or iced sorbet raising. We preferred the latter. Our bath 
being finished, we dined, went to the cassino ball, and re- 
turned on board once more. 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA, 


229 


CHAPTER XXVII. 

But sleepless nights and heavy days, 

A mind all dead to scorn or praise, 

A heart which shunn’d itself — and yet 
That would not yield — nor could forget : 

Which when it least appear’d to melt, 

Intensely thought — intensely felt ; 

The deepest ice which ever froze 

Can only o’er the surface close, Parasina. 

His heart was form’d for softness — warp’d to wrong. 

Soon after our return on board, Eglintoun, to the distress 
of every one, was taken ill, but it excited at first no serious 
apprehension : however, far from recovering, he grew so 
much worse, that his life was considered in danger, having 
been first attacked wfith a severe rheumatic fever, which 
ultimately degenerated into an eruptive disease. The cap- 
tain thinking that more attention could be shown to him in 
the hospital, desired that he might be sent there ; but the 
day proving bleak and boisterous, combined with his preca- 
rious state, to render his removal unsafe. On the captain 
being made acquainted with this, he gave orders to have 
the invalid placed in his cabin, which was wholly given up 
to him, in order that the noise and bustle of the steerage 
might not affect his recovery. 

The generosity of this sacrifice is much augmented, when 
we consider that, owing to the supposition of his having 
contracted the illness on shore, some vague and indefinite 
rumours were circulating through the ship ; first, that his 
disease was the small-pox, and next (which was far worse), 
the plague, cases of which are constantly to be found in the 
suburbs of all Turkish cities. In short, every kindness 
w T hich the captain could think of, or the surgeon suggest, 
was paid to Eglintoun, but all in vain. Within, I think, 
ten days of the night on which he might have been seen 
ashore, in all the jovousness of health and spirits, an inani- 
mate corpse was all that remained of the fine, generous, 
noble, and gentlemanly Eglintoun. The sails had been 
loosed to dry, and the men were aloft furling them at half- 


230 


CAVENDISH ; OR, 


past one, when he expired. Liked as he had been in life, 
he could not fail of being regretted in death ; and of all my 
messmates, whom the chances of war and sea have snatched 
away, I have never seen one whose loss was more felt. 
To me it brought reflections more sombre than, perhaps, to 
any one else ; for conscience told me, that had even-handed 
Justice decided the question of sudden death to one of us, 
Cavendish, and not Eglintoun, would now have been food 
for worms. 

The night was among the loveliest that those regions can 
display. Not a passing breath awoke the sleeping sea ; 
not a single cloud shut out an iota of Heaven’s brightness, 
which now hung forth her every lamp to deck our ill-used 
world in all the beauty of a paradise. 

The ship’s company’s hammocks had been piped down, 
and I was lying in the netting, plunged in thoughts of 
sadness, convinced in my own mind, that were the bosoms 
of all on board laid bare, none would be festered by an 
arrow whose barb was rankling deeper than in my own. 
Eight o’clock struck, and Neville came up to relieve the 
deck. 

“ Well, Hearty, what are the orders ?” was his inquiry. 

“ The same as usual, only that bundle of Eglintoun's 
clothes must not be touched by any one.” 

“ Why not ?” 

“ Because I believe there was a slight touch of the 
plague in his complaint, and they are to be burnt to- 
morrow.” 

“ Very well : when is Judas to be called ?” 

“ Five to-morrow morning and Hearty being relieved, 
he went below, while the other youngster remained in 
charge of the deck. 

“ The Gewgaw frigate was lying in the harbour, and 
every night at this hour her bugles were accustomed to 
play. After several airs, they finished with “ Home, 
sweet home ! ” Having been abroad and out of the way of 
hearing it, hackneyed as it was in England, it yet possessed 
for me all the charms of music which Miss Paton had 
brought out ;* and the remembrances and feelings awoke 


* I believe in the opera of Clari. 


THE TATRICIAN AT SEA. 


231 

by its pensive melody were heightened to the utmost, 
as it came gently swelling over the silent water at this 
peculiar moment, when one of us had been suddenly 
gathered to the gloomy dead, after an alienship of four or 
five years from his native country. 

There is no remedy for grief like tears ; they lift us “ far 
above the madding crowd’s ignoble strife,” more especially 
when brought forth by music ; and I never have felt ashamed 
of them ; though human nature is such that it instinctively 
conceals its deepest, and therefore its truest, emotion. 
Covering my face with my hands, I indulged in a complete 
flood, and each tear felt as though it were a drop of agony 
departing. Suddenly I head a sob from the opposite side of 
the quarter-deck. Surprised, I raised myself slightly to take a 
glance, when I beheld Neville leaning his head on the bul- 
wark, listening to the same sounds as myself, and apparently 
with the same emotion. Had I known no more of him than 
the rest of his messmates, I should have been surprised. 
Among them he passed for a light-hearted, merry boy, while 
with his superiors he was a proof of what prejudice can effect. 
All the follies and thoughtlessness of a boy of fourteen were 
magnified into crimes ; and while Stretcher, and Straw, and 
Cantall made him a butt for their tyranny, the school- 
master, pretending to be his friend, was, perhaps, his most 
inveterate foe. Nothing but garbled and mis-stated reports 
reached the captain, who, in reality, knew as little of the 
boy’s actual disposition as he did of the man in the moon. 
This, however, was not the first time that I had found him 
in private, sorrowing over those things which in the berth 
he affected to laugh at. 

The reader may recollect that he was placed on the poop 
for doing that which he had never dreamt of ; and in ships, 
as elsewhere, when any poor devil seems to have his head 
under water, every hound hastens to keep it there — if they 
dare ; and having once hit upon a scape-goat, the four rep- 
tiles crowd upon it all their acts of tyranny. The primary 
cause of complaint against him was, that he always forgot to 
execute the orders entrusted to his charge ; and scarcely a 
day passed that he had not eight hours* watch to keep 
instead of four for this supposed neglect ; while the truth 
was, he had been so harassed and bothered and calumniated, 


232 CAVENDISH ; OR, 

that a memory not naturally imperfect became utterly con- 
fused. In his watch, Straw was the lieutenant, he was mate, 
the responsible person to the first- lieutenant (the officer of 
the watch being responsible to the captain), while Lackit the 
youngster was two years older, and had been two years longer 
at sea ; so that taking every other question out of the case, 
it was cruel to make a youngster, who had onlybeen eighteen 
months at sea, bear the burden which should have fallen on 
one who had been three years and a half. 

Lackit, also, was one of their butts ; in a far less degree, 
because, when any thing goes wrQng, it is visited on the 
mate of the watch. Besides, Lackit showed less resistance, 
and was not, therefore, so well worth their while. Amiable 
sportsmen ! flying shots alone are worthy of them. How- 
ever, out of the numerous acts of tyranny practised by Straw 
and Stretcher against this youngster, take the following, 
which happened while we were lying at Poros. 

One morning, while we were busily employed watering, 
Neville had been sent away in the cutter at nine o'clock, to 
bring the water on board, and see that the men attended to 
their duty. The sun was very hot, and the service not quite 
so pleasant as walking the deck under an awning. This he 
continued to do, with the intermission of the dinner hour, 
until five o’clock, when the boats were hoisted up, and the 
ship’s crew were piped to tea. By the regular course of 
duty it became his watch from six to eight ; but it is a gene- 
ral rule, that those officers shall never be expected to keep 
their regular watch, who have been employed on service 
during the hours which are allowed them for repose below. 
Straw, of the two faces, was the officer of the watch ; and 
on his sending down Lackit to summon the mate of the 
watch, Neville sent up to explain this. 

“ It’s all a d lie,” was the officer-like reply of the 

man in question, who forbore to make any inquiry from 
those who could inform him. “ Lackit, go down and tell 
Neville he shall come up here directly, or I’ll send the cor- 
poral of marines for him.” 

Lackit accordingly descended, and delivered the message 
to his watch-mate, who, being very tired, was lying on a 
chest near me in the steerage. “ If Mr. Straw doubts my 
statement,” was Neville’s answer, “ let him ask the first- 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


233 

lieutenant. This is merely one of his pitiful spites ; as if 
you could not keep two hours* watch without me. If I 
were to go to old Judas, I suppose it would only be one 
piece of tyranny backed up by another. 

“ You may be pretty sure of that/* returned Lackit ; it 
will only be making matters worse ; you had better come up 
at once.” 

“ Please, sir,” said the corporal of marines, coming down, 
“ Mr. Straw desired me to say, that if you did not come up 
at once, I was to bring you up whether or no.” 

“ Here’s honour for ye,” cried the youngster, making his 
way to the quarter-deck, while I followed, somewhat curious 
to see the result. 

“ D you ! you little blackguard ! ” said Straw, di- 

rectly he had reached the hatchway, “ what do you mean 
by not coming up to keep your watch.” 

“ I was on duty, sir, the whole of the day.” 

“Tt’s a lie, sir; if you had not been on duty you would 
have been at school.” 

“ Yes, sir, but there is a wide difference between being at 
school, under the half- deck, and fagging in a broiling sun ; 
besides, all that I had to do in school would have been over 
at half-past two o’clock, whereas 1 was kept in the boat till 
five.” 

“ I don’t believe it.” 

“ You had better inquire, sir.” 

“ Don’t talk to me. Get up on that spanker-boom im- 
mediately. This is six o’clock ; you don’t get off till ten.” 

“ But, Mr. Straw ” 

“ Get up, sir, directly. Here, corporal of marines ” 

It was useless to remonstrate ; Neville ascended his place 
of punishment. 

Not long after this, the captain came up and walked the 
deck with Straw : of course he observed Neville, and never 
dreaming that bullying had usurped the place of just punish- 
ment, he made no inquiries that went further than the officer 
of the watch, with whom he was walking, and who was too 
much interested to let the truth appear. Instead, therefore, 
of this being of any service to the youngster, it only led the 
captain to conclude that he had been engaged in some fresh 


234 


CAVENDISH J OR, 

mischief. In a fit of folly and anger, the boy took his knife, 
and scraped off some of the black paint, exposing to view 
the white coat beneath for the length of an inch, in breadth 
perhaps a quarter, knowing this would annoy old Stretcher, 
whose hobby it was to be always daubing and painting 
every thing around him. At ten o’clock he was released to 
go to his hammock, to be called again at four, to keep the 
morning watch. 

At seven I went on deck, and Willstand also happened to 
come up and look around him, as he frequently did ; we 
were chatting together, when Neville joined us. 

“ Well, Neville,” said Willstand, “ how did your mare 
go last night ? ” 

“ Rather sorrily, sir ; and had it not been for some dirty 
Straw, I should never have ridden at all.” 

“ Indeed. Why Straw’s risen a rank then ; I thought 
it had been fodder, only food for asses.” 

“ Yes ; generally it does go in that line of the creation ; 
but, like other things, it varies very often to the mule, and 
sometimes to the high horse ; though, in my opinion, that 
Straw is only fit for the pig- sty.” 

“ You see, Cavendish,” said Willstand, turning to me, 
“ Neville feels he is in Attica. When were you on shore 
last, boy, on leave ?” 

“ A month before the ship left England.” 

“ Since that is the case, I suppose you will have but 
small objection to coming with me to-day ; I am going to 
shoot.” 

“ Oh, I shall be delighted, sir.” 

“ Here, Mr. Neville,” said Straw, singing out from the 
taffrail, where he had been napping, as usual, “ did you do 
that ?” pointing to the scratch on the boom, which he had 
just discovered. 

“ I did, sir,” was Neville’s repiy. 

“ Then get on those bitt-heads ; I’ll report you to the 
first-lieutenant, you scamp ; I’ll get you flogged.” 

“ If I am flogged, you are shot, Vun et V autre” returned 
Neville, walking away as he muttered this 

“What is that you dare to say, sir?” inquired Straw, 
fuming up to him. 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


235 

“ What I dared to think, and that is more/’ replied the 
youngster, facing about with a coolness that brow-beat the 
lieutenant. 

“ Get on those bitts.” 

“ I will and accordingly he mounted. 

“ What’s the matter ?” inquired Willstand of Straw. 

“ Why, that good-for-nothing young blackguard told me 
a whole pack of lies last night, and so I stuck him on the 
spanker-boom, which you see he has spoilt entirely,” point- 
ing to the paltry scratch. 

Willstand was silent. It was not in his power to inter- 
fere with his senior officer, which Straw was, even if he had 
thought there was another side to the question, and could, 
therefore, only regret that a youngster whom he was inclined 
to befriend, should have laid himself open to a petty tyrant. 

Presently Stretcher made his appearance, and Straw hav- 
ing formally reported and enlarged on the offence, the former 
desired Neville to get down from his^os?, and walk the deck, 
saying, “ You shall not quit the quarter-deck till four o’clock 
this afternoon. I see you can’t tell truth even by acci- 
dent.” 

“ Tu quoque ! ” (you also) was Neville’s only reply, doing as 
he was bid. 

“ What’s that he said ? ” inquired Stretcher, quickly, of 
his brother-classic, Straw. 

“ Oh, he said he’d poke ye,” returned the latter. 

“ D’ye think he did ? ” said Stretcher, in a rage. “ I’ll 
have him put under arrest, and flogged.” 

“ I won’t be sure,” said Straw, “ it’s not worth while to 
make so much fuss about it. You can say what you like to 
the captain, you know ; for instance, that he’s a good-for- 
nothing, mutinous scamp.” 

“ Ah, so I will,” rejoined Judas ; I’ll teach him to say he’d 
poke me. Insubordinate little brat ! the captain doesn’t lick 
them half enough.” 

“ Neville,” said I, “ you, of course, mean to speak to Cap- 
tain Sawyer, and explain these things ?” 

- How ? ” 

“ Why, by pointing out the system of villany that these 
men are pursuing.” 

“ What chance have I, a boy, against those men, grown 


236 CAVENDISH ; OR, 

grey in such tyranny ? These fellows have had the captain’s 
ear too long. How should one be believed in preference to 
four ? That the junior officers would not support me is very 
evident ; they know very well the conduct of these men, and, 
had they been inclined to expose them, they would have 
done so before now. It is only natural they should shrink 
from embroiling themselves, unless for their own good. 
You know what an uproar it would create in the ship. I 
could not prove charges by myself, and were I to fail in 
bringing them home, it would only be making matters worse. 
No ; I must trust to chance to deliver me from such an in- 
fernal bondage, — death, any thing. Oh ! it is enough to 
drive the sanest persons mad, to stand by, and see their lame, 
life, character, all that is worth caring for, lied away like 
this. I ask you, Cavendish, is it not enough to pervert the 
best- disposed boy in the world, to be driven, oppressed, and 
calumniated as I am ?” 

It was too true. If the captain could once have been 
brought to see the real characters of those who surrounded 
him, they would all have been sent to the right-about in- 
stantly ; I believe that his love of justice was such, he 
would not have seen a soul in his ship wronged willingly ; 
but how to convince him was the question. How, unless 
the strongest proofs were adduced, could he be brought to 
believe that those men, on whom all his confidence had been 

lavished, were unprincipled ? and that, in return for 

his kindness, they had thrown a veil over his eyes and led 
him into error ? This might have been done, I am aware ; 
but not by a boy of Neville’s age. 

Having been strictly confined to the deck till four, at that 
hour it became his duty to keep his regular watch till six, 
making fourteen hours at a stretch ; and at midnight it 
again became his turn to keep watch till four in the morn- 
ing, which Straw strictly enforced — that is to say, while not 
asleep himself. In the afternoon watch, from noon till 
four (which was also his), a boat was required to take the 
carpenters ashore. 

Stretcher having called the mate, said to him, “ Mr. 
Neville, you will take the carpenters ashore in the cutter, 
and come off again immediately.” 

“Very well, sir,” replied the youngster, pushing off. 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


237 

I happeaed to be on deck, and watched them landing. 
The moment after the last man had quitted the boat, Neville 
rose up and gave some order, when the bowman began to 
push off, while the men commenced using their oars to 
return : just at that moment the carpenter came running 
back to the boat, and spoke to Neville, who ordered the 
men to cease rowing, and the boat waited — but scarcely 
ten minutes, when the carpenter returned, gave some tools 
to the bowman, and they returned on board. 

“ Come on board, sir/’ said Stretcher to Neville. “ I 
thought, sir, I had ordered you to return the instant you 
had landed those men.” 

“ I was about to do so, sir ; but the carpenter desired me 
to wait a few minutes while his men finished with the adze, 
as his mate wants one here on board, and they are using the 
rest on shore.” 

“ I don’t care, sir, what Mr. Bevel” (the carpenter) 
“ told you ; my orders were sufficient.” 

“ Very true, sir ; but you are aware the rule of the ser- 
vice is always to obey the last order, and as Mr. Bevel is, 
by virtue of his warrant, my superior officer, it became my 
duty to obey him ; and if not, you would have been obliged 
to send another boat, or allow the carpenter’s work to be 
suspended ; and I thought that every order from a superior 
is to be qualified by the judgment of him who executes it, 
to meet the exigences of the moment.” 

" Exigences of the moment ! who gave you leave to 
think ? There’s no such a word on board a man-of-war. 
You’ll stay up here till six o’clock.” 

“ But, Mr. Stretcher, you can refer to Mr. Bevel.” 

“ Hold your d — d tongue, sir ; I want to refer to no one. 
I’ll teach you to obey orders : if I catch you off this deck 
till six o’clock, look to it.” 

“ Well,” thought I, “ if this be not a devil, I never met 
one.” The youngster had no more intention of acting 
otherwise than for the best, than he had of flying. I was 
very much enraged to see such scenes going on before me 
without the power of exposing them ; but I was, like their 
victim, nothing more than a boy. I therefore went up to 
console him. We were recently joined by Willstand. 

“ Well, really, I do not know how it is,” said the latter. 


238 CAVENDISH ; OR, 

** that the midshipmen of this ship are always in hot water. 
I have been in many, and never yet found a set of lads who 
did their duty better. But here there is always some dis- 
turbance with them.” 

“ Neville,” said I, shortly after, stepping into the main- 
chains, “ look what shoals of fish are swimming round the 
ship.” 

" So there are,” returned Neville, stepping into the 
main-chains after me. Now the main-chains are consti- 
tuted, by a ledge of the ship’s side, to which are fastened 
the irons which secure the rigging. So close are they to 
the deck entering-port, that the most scrupulous measure 
would bring it within three feet of the boundary of the 
deck, and on the same level, but overhanging the ship’s 
side. We had not been standing there ten minutes, when 
Judas’s voice was heard : “ Where’s Mr. Neville ?” 

“ Here I am, sir,” said the latter, stepping before him. 

“ What do you mean, sir, by leaving the deck ?” 

“ I have not left it, sir, or, at least, not intentionally. 
I beg that you will not think so ; the main-chains, I consi- 
dered, were not included when you spoke of quitting the 
deck.” 

“No such thing, sir.” 

“ Of course,” said Neville, “ you can decide best,” yield- 
ing the point to him. “ Had I known such were your 
views, I would not have gone there. I have always heard 
the main- chains called on deck, and consider them as such.” 

“ It’s a lie, sir ; you did not.” 

“ It is true, sir ; I did.” 

“ No such thing.” 

“ Surely, sir, I must know my own ideas better than you 
can.” 

“ Hold your mutinous tongue.* You’ll stay up here till 
eight o’clock. I’ll break your heart, or break your spirit.” 

“ What was the result ?” you ask, reader ; why, that the 
vougster was obliged to remain walking the deck till eight 
o’clock, when it became his regular duty to keep watch till 

* This language is out of character and truth ; it is far too gentle- 
manly and free from oaths for the general dialogue of naval first-lieu- 
tenants ; indeed, were it drawn to the life, no one would publish it, as 
no one could read it. 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


239 

midnight ; and now let us see how many hours he was 
spared for rest, and what length of time he was thus com- 
pelled to remain on deck. 

The first day, watering from nine a.m. till ten p.m. thir- 
teen hours * watch and six hours* sleep. On the next morn- 
ing, from four a.m. till six p.m ..fourteen hours' watch, and 
four hours* sleep — from eight till twelve ; watch again from 
midnight till four a.m., four hours. Sleep, from four till 
eleven — seven hours, (on the whole) four hours off duty at 
school ; watch from noon till midnight, twelve hours — seven 
hours* sleep. Thus, in the short space of seventy hours, 
divided into four intervals, this boy was compelled to keep 
forty-three hours* watch, had twenty hours* sleep, and seven 
off duty. And will a man be found sufficiently hardy or 
unprincipled to say, that a service in which such things are 
even possible , needs no reform ? 

At length a life of such constant tyranny and dread 
became a perfect burthen to Neville ; he began to doubt 
whether he were in hell, or merely some terrestrial place of 
torment. He grew gloomy, forgetful and hypochondriacal ; 
he had been worried out of all capacity for duty, like an 
animal baited into madness ; and as I said before, this was 
not the first time I had come upon him unawares, indulging 
a grief in private, which he possessed too unyielding a 
spirit to show by day. “ What a humbug — what a 
mockery is this thing which they call life ?’* said he, taking 
up Eglintoun*s clothes. “ Poor Eglintoun ! another noble 
spirit less on earth ! — Heaven knows I would willingly have 
exchanged lots with you ! Who can look into the grave 
and ask it to yield forth its secrets ? who can say why you 
are gathered to the tomb, yet in the bud and flower of life ? 
No one can look around and think this is a world of chance, 
a godless chaos ; and yet where can I find a reason that one 
who had every cause to love life should be taken from it, 
while another to whom it has become a curse, is left behind ? 
I can see none — none — except it be to wake up contempla- 
tion in the minds of others ; and yet who thinks or cares ex- 
cept myself, and for such a worm as myself ? it could never 
be. Could I once bring myself to believe this world stood 
alone, without relation to past or future — that chance was 
its only deity, — if, I say, I could only believe this — not 


240 


CAVENDISH J OR, 

another hour would I linger amidst a set of creatures I 
despise. Death is close at hand,” looking towards the 
water, “ it looks placid and forgetful. But it cannot be — 
who can behold the revolutions of empires and give such 
deeds to chance ? Why, then, do I see cut off in youth’s 
bloom, beings in hundreds, without having performed any 
one end that we can perceive ? And are the many years of 
misery, perhaps in store for me, to end thus ? — to leave 
their victim in a noteless, nameless grave ; better far to 
finish it at once, and let the bitterness of time rush by in 
one fell sweep. But then the hope of future years still 
holds one back to life. O, that I could only call up some 
witch of Endor, to tell me what will be the end of all this 
jugglery ! But while others go to mortal hags, I will ques- 
tion death, whether he claims me for a subject or not ? 
Have I anything to bind me to life ? No. Then this shall 
be the hazard.” 

Saying which he clasped the infected bundle in his arms, 
and thrusting his hand into the midst of it, replaced it in 
his bosom ; as much as to say, “ I will dare thee to the 
uttermost.” 


CHAPTER XXVIII. 

Coldly sleeps the fair-haired chieftain ; 

His +he deep slumber that awaits the brave. Ossian. 

A YARN ! 

Early on the ensuing morning preparations were made for 
interring the body of our brother officer with all the honours 
of war. As many of the officers, therefore, as could be spared, 
were sent ashore in full dress, with a file of marines, and 
two relays of seamen to carry the coffin, round which was 
flung that noblest pall — the union-jack, surmounted by the 
sword and cocked-hat of the deceased. We had no band, 
and could not, therefore, as is usual, accompany our late 
messmate to the grave with music ; but as our boats passed 
a Dutch frigate, they played the Dead March. This was a 
piece of courtesy that every one felt to be very gratifying, 
and had the men been permitted to do so, they would fiave 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


241 


started up and answered it by three cheers ; this, however, 
would have been indecorous ; the officers therefore bowed, 
and we rowed on. 

On landing, we were met by some other boats from the 
English men-of-war lying here, together with the consul and 
vice-consul. Four lieutenants walked one at each corner 
as pall-bearers, then followed, two and two, the junior of- 
ficers, and the rear was brought up by Captain Sawyer and 
a commander ; the whole preceded by the seamen and ma- 
rines. The English burving-ground was at some distance 
from the shore, and as we sadly marched along, now and 
then a Turk might be seen stepping forward to gaze at a 
spectacle almost unique. 

Shaded with cypresses that grew in a neighbouring gar- 
den — running wild with thistles and long grass, which waved 
in rank luxuriance over those it hid for ever, the English 
cemetry appeared lonely enough to answer the description 
Rogers gives of the tomb of Caius Marius. There are a 
few walled tombs with slabs, but the generality of the graves 
were distinguished from the level around simply by a 
mound of earth, and the increase of vegetation. The ser- 
vice was read, the body lowered, the marines were ranged 
around, but — 

No soldier -discharged his farewell shot, 
***** 

And we left him alone with his glory. 

The notions of the Turks are so unaccountable, so 
much at variance with our own, and their feelings so jealous, 
that it was deemed prudent not to give the three last volleys, 
that tell the world a warrior is no more. I could have 
wished to explore the tombs around ; but it was impossible 
to leave the procession, and we returned on board in our 
former order. 

It was about this period that the news arrived of the 
Duke of York’s death, and of those changes in the ministry 
which ended in Lord Melville having to quit office, and the 
Duke of Clarence becoming Lord High Admiral. This 
was the all- engrossing subject. 

Such were the terms of gratulation on the quarter-deck : 
while among the men, the idea of a sailor, though a prince, 
being made Lord High Admiral, was the very thing that 

R 


242 


CAVENDISH ; OR, 


tickled their fancies in the extreme. Happening to go near 
the forecastle in the evening, and to sit down out of sight, I 
heard them discussing the matter as gravely, but with al- 
most as little sense, as some of the late country members 
used on the subject of Catholic claims. 

“ Well, ould shiver- the-mizen, good news afloat this 
morning. They've turned out the coot from his feathered 
nest, to put our grand royal swan in his place,” said the 
boatswain’s mate, slapping on the back the master- at- arms, 
(a methodist) who was busily smoking his pipe. “ Now I 
minds the Duke of Clarence main well, when we were both 
in the same fleet together, under Lord Rodney, and a game 
chap he was.” 

“ Lord High Admiral !” replied the master-at-arms, 
slowly pronouncing the title, as if criticising its propriety. 
“ No, I’ve no objection to his being called High Admiral, 
hut I doesn’t like to hear a man called Lord High — no, that 
I doesn’t ; I considers it downright impiouse — that’s plain.” 

“ Why, get out o’ that, you old methody psalm- singinger! 
you knows nothing about it. If so be as they’d call the 
other feller, Melville, Lord High, I knows as well as 
you can tell me that it would have been impiouse , or what- 
somdever you choose to call it. No, no ; none o’ that for 
us. I knows all about the Lord High ; here, who’s for a 
yarn, my boys ?” 

“That’s it ; give us a regular tough un,” replied half a 
dozen voices. 

“ Then make a ring, my hoys ; side out for a bend, there, 
you skilligalee and sitting himself on his hams, in the 
midst of them, he began. 

“ I spose you know before a man’s a man, he must be a 
boy. Well, my hoys, this here Lord High was a midship- 
man once upon a time, and he’d just been paid off’ and gone 
home for a spree, just detarmined, as it may be to get into 
heaven* a little time afore he went afloat again ; well, he 
was living aboard the Windsor Castle ; I don’t mean the 
ship, but the big house there, that is somewhere in the lati- 
tude o’ Lonnon, with his father and mother — that’s the old 
King George, you know — though it does look summat 


Another phrase for intoxication. 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


243 

queerisli to me, that sich a mighty high fellow as the king 
should be father to any one, much less to a midshipman. 
But they tell me the old man's got a sight o' young uns. 
Howsomdever, there he was, living with 'em all, brithers 
and sisters, and a lot more o’ great folk. So one day he 
goes to dine with his sisters, for ye see I'm not sartain 
whether he messed there altogether, or if he was only a — 
what's its name ? Hang me if I don’t forget it ! What is 
that fine word, serjeant — you're a bit of a schollard — that 
'em ere soger chaps calls it ashore ?” 

v “ Oh ! you manes a horrorary member," said the umpire 
sergeant, with the face of a lexicographer. 

“ Ah ! to be sure I do, bo. Well, then, I’m not sartain 
whether the Lord High was a reglar member of the sisters' 
mess, or, if so be only a horrorary member ; but this I 
know, he was dining there one day, and, feeling rather dry, 
he looked about for his grog : — well, blow me tight, and 
had manners to 'em ! if they hadn't put not a drop o’ grog 
on the table ; no, nor never so much as a drop of wine ! 
Well, ye see, there was the first leaftenant there, what they 
calls the governish ; so he didn’t say divil a word while she 
was there ; but it put his pipe out, sure enough ; and, as soon 
as ever he gets his sisters alone, he says to ’em, ‘ How is it, 
my girls,’ says he, ‘ that you han't got no grog to your 
dinner ?' So says they, ‘ The governish w^on’t allow us 
any.' ‘ What !’ says he, ‘ nor wine either ?' 4 No,' says 

they, 'not a drop o' wine, neither.' ‘Not even so much as 
a drop of wine, neither ?' says he. ‘ Why, that's a pretty 
go. I’ll see whether you shan't have some wine for your 
dinner. Next time you axe her for some, and if she doesn't 

gid you any, you begin to swear at her ; her eyes, 

and tell her she's a cursed old catamaran. I’ll tell 'e how 
to blackguard her fast enough. I’ll see whether she shall 
start all the grog overboard, in that ere way !’ 

“ So, next day, when they piped to dinner, they axes for 
some wine. ‘ Wine ! my dears,' says the governish, ‘ you 
knows you mustn’t have any vine.' Away they goes ! — 

sich a hullabaloo ! — ‘ We will have some wine ! d your 

eyes — you old chate- the- devil — !' ‘ Hush ! hush ! hush ! 

Oh ! for shame, my dears !’ says she ; * how can you bias- 

fame in that scofiigate manner ?’ ‘ Its d your manners,' 

r 2 


244 


CAVENDISH , OR, 

says they, 4 you old hag ! — gid us some wine directly, and 
none o’ your slack !’ My eye ! she was off to the purser’s 
steward, opened her spirit hatch, and out with her wine, in 
the twinkling of a bed-post, as ye may say. 

“ Well, they went on in this ere way for a week ; she 
didn’t dare to refuse ’em the allowance, or else they’d fall 
to swearing. At last she made a report of it to the queen 
— a sort of sea- skipper, I spose. bhe was aboard the old 
Windsor ; and she wouldn’t believe it at first ; till, at last, 
the governish persuaded her to come and listen behind a 
curtain — that’s a sort of flying bulk-head, you know. So, 
by-and-by, they axes for their liquor. ‘ No,’ says the 
governish, I won’t gid ’ee a drop.’ — Look out for squalls. 
Soon as ever she said that, away they flew — all set-to 
with a will, and blackguarded the old soul up to the skies ! 
Directly she hears this, the sea-skipper makes sail, and tells 
the admiral — that’s the king. ‘ Well,’ says he, ‘ this here 
is that midshipman Clarence’s doing. Oh, those sailor 
chaps — what rum uns they be surely ! — Enough to torment 
a fellow out of his life ! What shall I do ? He shall live 
upon bread and water.’ 

“ So, sure enough, the king ordered a dinner of bread 
and water to be sarved out ; and the Lord High was taken 
there to eat. ‘ Holloa !’ says he, ‘ here’s a pretty ban-yan 
day !’ He eat bread and water ! What ! a tar drink pure 
water , without so much as a drop of rum to qualify it ! No, 

no, not if he know’d it. No ; he’d be d d if he’d have 

any thing to do with it ! Well, they tells this to the admiral 
(the king you know), and he comes and tells the Lord High, 
if he doesn’t eat it directly, he’ll send un off* to the mast- 
head. Now,” says the old seaman, very sagely, scratching 
his nonce, “blow me if I knows where their mast-head is, 
unless it’s where the dog- vane twirls, over the chimney-pot ! 
Lord High ! yes, I think he would ha’ been high enough, 
up there. 

“ Well, seeing there was no help for it, the Lord High 
fell to — eat the bread, drank the water, and then sung out 
for more. As soon as ever the second batch was finished, 
he turned round, fronting the old George ; and giving his 
waistband a hitch, jist as that may be, he sings out, ‘ I 
wouldn’t give a d — to dine with the king !’ ”* 

* A current phrase at sea, to denote having made a good dinner. 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


245 

“ Hurrah ! well, if that isn’t a good un !” exclaimed the 
listeners, one and all. “ And what did the old George 
do ?” 

" Do ? why he laughed ready to split a-self, jist as you or 
I might do.” 

A vote of thanks was passed to the story-teller, and one of 
praise by general acclaim on the Lord High, all present de- 
claring he was the chap for them ; and far better were they 
pleased with this ridiculous story, than if they had heard of 
the Duke of Clarence being the most pious psalm- singer in 
the kingdom. 

The next day I happened to be on the main-deck, when 
I met Straw, showing two merchants from the shore round 
the vessel. “ This, you perceive, gentlemen,” said he, “ is 
the patent chain -cable.” 

“ Ah, yes, patent chain-cable, very good thing,” returned 
one of the merchants. “ I believe Captain Brown invented 
it ?” 

“ Oh, no, you’re very much mistaken,” returned Straw, 
“ he only improved on it. The chain-cable, gentlemen, is of 
very ancient origin. It originated in the following circum- 
stances. 

“ When Alexander the Great was besieging Troy, he came 
with a large fleet, and anchored off the walls. The Troymen 
seeing their town in so much danger, dived down off the 
walls, and cut his cables — (for you see, gentlemen, they 
they were made of hemp,) — and his fleet went adrift. So 
he anchored there again with hemp cables, and the Troymen 
dived down once more, and cut his cables a second time. 
But now, sirs, he’d grown wiser, and, going home, he got 
all his ships provided with chain-cables ; and the third time 
he came and moored his fleet with these before the walls, 
and the divers dived down, and turned all the edges of their 
knives as blunt as cask-hoops. They couldn’t cut these, 
gentlemen, and the consequence was, the town was taken. 
He took the city next morning by a coup -de -main . ” 

“ They were great men, sfr, those men of antiquity,” said 
one of the merchants. “ There was Pompey, you know, 
sir, he was king of Troy at the time you mention.” 

“ Ah, to be sure,” said Straw, “ so he was.” 

“ Oh, yes, sir, we have no men like them in these days. 


246 CAVENDISH ; OR, 

Then there was his cousin, you know, Pompey’s cousin, 
Quintus Curtius, who leapt into it, — let me see, what was it 
he leapt into ?” 

“ The Persian Gulf, to be sure,” said Straw. 

“ Thank you, sir ; to be sure, so he did. You recollect 
that story, don’t you, Mr. James ?” 

1 could bear this no longer, but strode out of hearing to 
indulge in a hearty roar. 

We now heard that Sir Edward Codrington had ar- 
rived in a new and splendid teak-built eighty- gun ship, and 
that he was making the most vigorous preparations for pre- 
venting the system of Grecian piracy, which had hitherto 
defied all attempts to arrest it ; and, among other notes of 
preparation, that he had fitted up his barge with a mortar to 
throw shells, and that our old friend, Lord Clearall Eatwell 
Pinchit was on board, on his way to join the Talthorpe. 

A day or two afterwards, our friends, the middies of the 
Cvmbrian, gave us an invitation to make up a party, and 
ride from Smyrna to the village of Buja, dining on our return 
at the “ Hotel de Y Europe.” As I before remarked, the 
Cymbrians were remarkably fine young men, and just at 
that epoch of a boyish precocious manhood when the first 
emotions of gallantry fairly dispel the awkwardness of the 
boy, and while they receive all the strength of youth, refine 
its rudeness ; and having a more indulgent captain and first- 
lieutenant than falls to the lot of most officers, but little 
bridle was held over their inclinations. Clever, generous, 
and spirited, they were the most likely lads possible to get 
into a mel£e, or fight their way out of it. Accordingly, be- 
fore we started on horseback for Buja, we all strolled out in 
a party ; after only knocking down some half a dozen peo- 
ple, and upsetting a vehicle or two, we returned to take a 
few glasses of claret for luncheon. 

Five o’clock found us all congregated around the dinner- 
table, in the true uproarious midshipman style. Champagne 
was making its rounds very quickly, and every thing bespoke 
hilarity, when Master Bob Straw “just dropped in;” but 
he happened to be most intrusive. 

“ Ah, my boys, this is the time of day — how d’ve do, how 
d'ye do ?” 

‘ Will you take some wine, Mr. Straw ?” 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


247 

“ Oh, no, thank ye, bo ; I've just had some ;" at the 
same time gliding into a seat, and filling for himself a 
bumper. “ Glorious turn out this, my fine fellows. So 
you've been roystering rarely, have you ? I advise you not 
to let the captain know any thing about it. Here, my lads, 
here's the health of the Cymbrians, with three times three." 

The toast was enthusiastically drank, and the Cymbrians 
returned the compliment to the Talthorpes, Straw graciously 
smiling on the festivities of the evening. The champagne, 
he acknowledged was delightful ; but after five or six glasses, 
he found it too light. The Burgundy was, however, unex- 
ceptionable ; and that, in his opinion, was the true gentle- 
manly wine on which to get half-seas-over, and to that he 
devoted himself, till it was necessary that we should be de- 
pi*ived of his delightful society, as he had — oh, joyful 
chance of getting rid of him ! — the first watch to keep on 
board. 

As the old Talthorpe was going to sail on the morrow, 
we were obliged, though most reluctantly, to “ break the 
links" and return on board; the hour was eleven. The 
party returning consisted of Green, Doykes, Jennings, Hum- 
bug, and myself. On arriving alongside, we found that 
amiable person, Mr. Straw, officer of the watch. “ What 
do you mean by not coming on board before ?" he inquired 
in a most imperious tone. 

“ Before, sir ?" I replied, in astonishment. “ Eleven 
is an early hour ; besides, when officers are allowed to go 
on shore, the leave implies a suffioient confidence in them to 
remit the hour of returning to their discretion." 

“ Hold your tongue, sir," he thundered forth in reply, 
having recourse to his most favourite method — that of 
accusing a man to his face, and then telling him not to 
reply. 

But he had no youngster to deal with, in me ; “ Gladly, 
sir," I returned, “ would I do as you so politely request, 
since the conversation seems to be not quite in the same 
jocular strain, and even less consistent than when I had the 
pleasure of meeting you some two hours since at my own 
table ; but — to be sure I may not have the advantage of 
such an education as yourself! — I have always understood, 
that when a man asked a question, he required an answer." 


248 


CAVENDISH ; OR, 

“ What the are you talking about, sir ?” said he, 

interrupting me in a great fury. 

“A most unintelligible subject,” I replied, half yawning 
in his face — “ yourself.” 

Convinced of his inability to bully me, he turned to the 
others ; “You will all of you consider yourselves under 
arrest, by the captain’s order.” 

“ Never do another good-natured action as long as I live !” 
muttered Jennings, in his madcap manner, springing down 
the hatchway. “ Confound you !” mumbled old Dovkes, 
surlily, descending. “ Very well, sir,” sneaked out from 
Humbug, in tones of mean servility. “ A very fine, cool 
night this is,” said Green, putting his hands in his 
pockets, and loitering with me on the hatchway. “ Very,” 
1 returned ; “ only the wind is rather strong, you see. 
They’re thrashing corn ashore, I should think, and it blows 
all the dirty chaff from the Straw in your face ; but ’tis 
a lovely night. Green ; don’t you think it must have been 
on such a night as this that Alexander the Great took Troy 
from that old Troyman, Pompey, while his cousin, Quintus 
Curtius, leapt into the Persian Gulf?” 

I had mentioned this ludicrous story to Green before, and 
the mention of it now, brought on such an immoderate fit of 
laughter, that we were fain to leave the deck at once. 

“ Go down, gentlemen, go down ; quit the quarter-deck 
instantly,” cried Straw, thundering in our rear, for he 
guessed we were ridiculing his ignorance. “ Sentry, what 
o’clock is it ?” coming down under the half-deck, and 
bawling as loud as he could, in order that the captain might 
hear him. “ Seven bells,”* answered the sentry. “ Mate 
of the watch,” affecting to think he was on deck, and could 
not hear him, “ come down and mark when these gentle- 
men came on board.” 

“ Here I am,” answered the mate, who was standing 
beside him all the while ; and Straw, taking the chalk from 
his hand, wrote, in the largest letters, the number of our 
transgressions, and placing the log-board in such a position, 
that the captain’s first glance would fall on it as he left his 
cabin next morning. At daylight the ship sailed, and in 
the forenoon we were all summoned to “ the presence,” 
when the unfortunate Cymbrians got all the discredit. 

* Half-past eleven at midnight. 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


249 

“ I see how it is,” said the captain, " those scampish 
Cymbrians get you on shore, and then they lead you into 
all sorts of mischief.” I, of course, thought what he said 
was uncommonly just ; for how could such a lad as myself 
have got into a scrape (the Turk’s house to boot) unless I 
had been led there ? 

However, so it was ; while Humbug, the cunning, was 
apostrophised as a poor deluded boy, whom we had led 
astray. Heaven knows, I would never have troubled myself 
to lead the mean-spirited animal any where — except into a 
ditch. Very evidently the grounds on which the informa- 
tion against us was filed, had been falsely given by some 
one : and as Straw had been seen for some time walking 
the deck with the captain, suspicion very justly rested on 
him : a suspicion, confirmed by the manner in which he 
received us on board. Thus, after having been the first, 
but two hours before, to drink our wine, and advise our 
concealing it from the knowledge of the captain, he was the 
very person who, in all probability, gave an aggravated 
account of it, and then enforced the commands of his 
superior in an uncalled-for, severe, and ungentlemanlike 
manner. I now felt the man was all that he had been 
described to me ; and following Loredano, I took out my 
tablets before going to bed, and traced on them — “ Double- 
faced Bob Straw : — an enemy — let no man think to earn 
that title of me with impunity.” 

All the odium fell on Straw ; for, with regard to the cap- 
tain, we knew his sentiments pretty well on the subject be- 
fore we started ; his anger was, therefore, nothing out of 
the way. It soon passed off, however, and we were all re- 
leased from arrest : — how, reader, could he long be angry 
with such a pattern of propriety as myself ? 


CHAPTER XXIX. 

He must his acts reveal 
From the moment of his vital breath, 

To his last hour of unrepenting death. Dryden. 

When we next fell in with the Cymbrian, it was in the Bay 
of Salamis, and the story having transpired of their lead- 


250 


CAVENDISH ; OR. 

ing us into mischief, we were from that time surnamed 
" the gentlemanly Talthorpes,” which name found its way 
to England before the ship ; it was in contradistinction to 
“ the scampish Cymbrians.” 

A few evenings subsequent to this, there was to be a 
grand sortie of the besieged from the Acropolis of Athens. 
We weighed and proceeded off the spot, while the Greek 
frigate was brought by Lord Cochrane as close in as pos- 
sible, and, as was said, landed a detachment of her men to 
co-operate ; however, he was there himself, as well as Ge- 
neral Church. Great things were to be achieved that day ; 
millions of turbans were, in anticipation, strewing the plain 
of the immortal Marathon, while some Greek philosopher 
— remember I do not vouch for the fact — went so far as to 
publish a thesis, proving how the immense decomposition 
of Turkish linen would produce a crop of flax, which, with 
due dressing, &c. would go far to clothe the whole army, 
while the discomfited Mussulmen would be pursued o’er fell 
and flood, to the very gates of Istamboul. 'But, alas ! the 
speculations of Greek, like the expectations of English 
genii, could only conceal their falsity in theory. The event 
was, that the Greeks were so totally routed, that Lord 
Cochrane was obliged to betake himself to his boat, and 
even, it was said, wade to his waist before he could get on 
board. We now returned to the Bay of Salamis, where 
the accounts were as fluctuating as the English funds. 

It has often surprised me to remark how some particular 
moment will cling to the memory ; a word or look — above 
all, a scene will often spring up to the mind, with all the 
freshness of originality, after a lapse of many years. I 
fancy now I can behold the very scene, ship, masts, and 
persons who stood around me one night, long, long since 
fled. It was one evening, during my watch, that several 
of the senior midshipmen, who were day-officers, and had 
no night duty, came up to take a walk in the fresh air, pre- 
vious to going to rest, as was a general custom with them. 
The night alone inclined the human heart to be in love with 
all around it, — so calm, so fair, you scarcely deemed that 
human passions were at hand. 

We were all laughing and joking at some stories which 
Twyndle had been telling, when the conversation turned on 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


251 

the scene around us. Not long before this we had been 
joined by an old midshipman of the name of Clare, who, 
having some poetical elements in his composition, was en- 
thusiastically attached to the Greek cause. “ Cannot you 
fancy,” he exclaimed, pointing in the direction of Port 
Leone, “ that you now behold the Giaour — 

Who thundering comes on blackest steed, 

With slacken’d bit and hoof of speed 1 

while such as this — 

The lovely light 

That best becomes an eastern night. 

It cannot be, surely, that such a paradise as this should for 
ever be held under the yoke of tyranny.” 

“ I think it very likely,” said one ; “for they say Athens 
is on the point of falling.” 

•* Never — Fate will not permit it. What bet will you 
take that the Acropolis falls in my lifetime ?” returned 
Clare. 

“ Yes,” said the other ; “ but how long do you imagine 
that your life is to last ?” 

" Why, I am only thirty. At any rate, I may count on 
having fifteen or twenty years.” 

“ Very well, I take your bet. What is it to be ?” 

“ Why I think bets should always be in wine ; — say a 
dozen of the best we have in the mess.” 

“ Very good : that’s a dozen of Burgundy. Now, then, 
Athens may fall as soon as it likes ; I never thought to 
make so much by it.” 

“ Ah ! don’t be so sure. But, if I have the bad luck to 
hop the twig, bury me here — aye, here, in the very scene 
which beheld the triumphs of Themistocles. Who would 
care to die, if buried here ?” 

“ Very well, old boy, we’ll give you a snug hammock and 
plenty of shot;” and, joking in this manner, they separated 
to retire to their hammocks. 

At midnight, the mate wno calied tne odicer of the next 
watch perceived Clare’s hammock empty ; and thinking that 
he might have fallen asleep on the main- deck, where he had 
been seen smoking, the youngster proceeded there to awake 
him, and get him into his bed ; for among the younger part 


252 CAVENDISH ; OR, 

of the community, his kindness of heart had made him much 
liked. He was not to be found ; and, concluding that some 
very sufficient reason would present itself for his absence, 
they all went to sleep. At seven the next morning he was 
found a corpse ! It was supposed that he had fallen from 
his hammock* in a fit of epilepsy, into the cock-pit, over 
which it was suspended ; where he was discovered with his 
head bent under his chest, and the vertebral column so 
much injured, that life must have been instantly extinguish- 
ed. 

" In the midst of life we are in death !” His messmates 
were all sleeping close around him ; but every one on board 
a ship has earned his repose too hardly to be awakened by 
any thing short of the quarter-master’s call for the next 
watch, or his hammock-man’s shake in the morning. One 
of the midshipmen heard a fall, and demanded what was the 
matter. But death is tongueless. No answer was return- 
ed : and, supposing the noise to involve a matter of no conse- 
quence, the questioner dropped asleep. How awful must 
have been the dispelling of that vision which dreamt of 
twenty years of life, and vanished in two short hours ! 

Clare had his wish ; — he sleeps amid the Isles of Greece. 
He was buried the same day at eleven, his remains being 
committed to the vasty deep, with the honours of war. On 
the next, at noon, his effects were disposed of by public auc- 
tion (termed, “ sold at the mast,”) according to the esta- 
blished rules of the service. I happened to be very unwell at 
the time, and the sale was carried on at the foot of my 
hammock. Instead of looking on every thing which be- 
longed to the poor fellow with a sacred eye, as some tribute 
to his untimely end, many of his “ traps” were received 
with a ribald jest, and unfeeling sneer. Surely the grave 
should hide our foibles, if it cannot conceal our crimes ! 
And what was the cause of this mirth ? Simply because 
the deceased had not the expensive fit-out which is generally 
considered necessary for a gentleman. 

Foremost — nay, almost alone, in this cursed troop, might 
be heard the hellish yell and unmeaning chatter of Straw ; 
and, had it not been for his example, nothing of the sort 
would most likely have been heard. This alone would have 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


253 

proved to me that he was a heartless, uneducated being — 
one no more to be compared with “the spirit that’s gone,’* 
than a drivelling idiot is to a man of the most exalted talent. 

Among other property there was a watch, which I believe 
the captain had expressed a wish to purchase for the cabin- 
door sentry. It was put up at a pound. “ Five-and-twenty 
shillings !” bid the captain. “ Six-and-twenty !” bid the 
purser. “ Thirty !” advanced the captain. “ Thirty-one !” 
said the purser. “ Two pounds !” said the captain, not al- 
together pleased at the opposition ; for I rather think he 
observed it was only meant to thwart him. “ Two-pound- 
one !” returned the purser, who had no more idea of buying 
it than the man in the moon. “ Fifty shillings !” advanced 
the captain. They hardly dared to go any further ; and it 
was knocked down and handed over to its new possessor. 
“ Here, Mr. Cantall, take this watch,” said Captain Saw- 
yer, giving it to the master. — “ Set it by your time, and 
then let the sentry at my door make use of it instead of his 
hour-glass.” 

“ Oh ! sir, it’s good for nothing — it won’t go,” said the 
master, offering it back again. 

“ It won’t go !” said the captain, in surprise. “ How do 
you know that, sir ?” 

“ Why, I tried it, sir, this morning. It is of no use 
whatever.” 

Captain Sawyer did not say , — you might have told me 
this — but he looked it ; and, turning silently away, went on 
deck. 

Scarcely could he have been out of hearing, when they 
burst forth into a loud laugh. Straw in particular exclaiming, 
“ Wasn’t that selling him a bargain ?” Such is the incon- 
sistency of fools, almost wantonly insulting a superior to- 
day, to kiss (if he would have permitted it) the dust from his 
shoes to-morrow. 

However, all were not alike, and some were yet found 
(among whom were Twyndle and Jennings), to bid against 
one another, for his private note-book, in order to return it 
unviolated to his friends. The auction, however, left such 
a feeling on my mind, that I resolved, were it my fate to 
follow Clare, that every article belonging to me should hi 


25 - 


cavendish ; or. 


entombed with my body, rather than have it exposed to 
such a set of miscreants, in which feeling I was joined by 
several of my messmates. 

Clare's private story was sad, and might find a parallel in 
almost every ship in the service. Of no family, he had en- 
tered the navy at the close of the war, been engaged in one 
or two actions on the North American lakes, and then, 
wanting interest to gain his promotion, had fallen into a 
state of despondency, and betaken himself to drinking, to 
chase aw T ay reflection. The consequences of this on board 
a ship are so subversive of order, that it must ever bring the 
offender into disgrace.* While on the other hand his frag- 
ments, scraps of poems, and the remarks in his note-book, 
proved, that however misfortune might have perverted him, 
his original abilities and feelings were above the common 
run. The time that he had been with us was so short, that 
on the fourth day after his decease, except an occasional 
“ Poor Clare !” you would not have known that he had ever 
belonged to us. 

Within a week of his death, Athens fell. The dearest 
haunt of earliest muses once more bowed before the force of 
the Moslem. 

Notwithstanding our affair with the Cymbrians at Smyrna, 
the friendly feeling between the two ships continued una- 
bated, and for two days we had a regatta, or boat-racing on 
a small scale, not inferior for the spirit with which it was 
supported to any that I ever witnessed ; while the various 
prizes of money (from the captains' pockets) were distri- 
buted among the boats' crews who pulled. Besides this, we 
had another amusement (or rather duty, but it became the 
former), which was exercising the great guns at a target, 
when the captain generally gave from two to four pounds to 
the best marksman ; the consequence was, we were unex- 
celled by any ship on the station. 


* See Notes on Naval Reform at the end of tne voiume. 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


265 


CHAPTER XXX 

There is a land, of every land the pride, 

Beloved by heaven o’er all the world beside ; 
****** 

There is a spot of earth supremely blest, 

A dearer sweeter spot than all the rest ; 
****** 

Where shall that land, that spot of earth be found ? 

Art thou a man ? — a patriot ? — look around, 

And thou shalt find, howe’er thy footsteps roam, 

That land thy country, and that spot thy home. Rogers. 

As it is now fairly time that our narrative should turn to the 
principal hero, I need make no apology for bringing before 
the reader the proceedings of D’Aquilar since he parted. As 
the most authentic mode of doing this must naturally be 
from his own letters, I have thrown these, with as little 
alteration as possible, into the form of a narrative, by 
D’Aquilar himself, as follows : — 

d’aquilar’s narrative. 

After making in legitimate order the various points of 
land which mark old England’s coast, we found ourselves 
once more anchored at St. Helen’s. With what joy did I 
mount the mast-head, and, looking through the mist of a 
November morning, behold the well-remembered shore ! 

The various inquiries of those yellow-visaged rascals be- 
longing to the quarantine, being answered, we were allowed 
to anchor at Spithead — the ship — but what’s the ship to me 
or you ; then let her pass. We were paid off in due time, 
and as I afterwards passed and beheld her dismantled, with 
half her planks taken out for ventilation, I thought she 
looked “like Niobe, all tiers.” This sounds less villanous 
than it looks, when written, but puns are my aversion, ex- 
cept when I make them, since I always compensate for the 
matchless atrocity of any by the unmitigated condemnation 
I pass on those of others. With his accustomed kindness, 
the captain offered his endeavours to procure me another 
ship, and had my name put down in the Victory’s books, 
with leave of absence for two months. 


2 56 CAVENDISH ; OR, 

Once more at liberty, my first thoughts were to see Le- 
titia, and for that purpose I caused my more material sub- 
stance, denominated body, to be conveyed to Ryde, in the 
Isle of Wight, where she was residing with her uncle. 

Unwilling to intrude upon her sorrow, without previously 
announcing my intention, I despatched a note for that pur- 
pose, and having taken up my quarters at an inn, I repaired 
on the ensuing morning to the post-office for an answer. 
While waiting at the window, there appeared a man who 
had seemingly witnessed about fifty winters. His attire con- 
sisted, first, of an undress naval uniform coat, of a most 
antiquated cut ; beneath this a wine-spotted kerseymere 
waistcoat ; and then a pair of pantaloons, of that abominable 
greenish cast of colour which the sea wears in shallow water, 
after heavy rain. White cotton stockings, brass-buckled 
shoes, a copper-headed cane, with a hole in it, through 
which pended a leather strap, with a brown black hat, hav- 
ing the appearance of a church-bell turned topsy-turvy, 
made up the remainder of his apparel. He was of small 
stature, and his countenance wore a most curious mixture of 
prying curiosity and pompous pusillanimity, while his thick 
lips, narrow forehead, and large mouth, like a farmer’s gate, 
always ajar, announced some slight penchant for himself et 
sa ventre. 

Having eyed me with a most authoritative, supercilious 
glance, he knocked long and loudly at the blank window, 
when the clerk, with wonder in his looks, protruded as 
much of his countenance as the space would admit. “Are 
there any letterth for Captain Grim Emmeth Humbug ?” 
inquired the little man, with the most ludicrous affectation 
and lisp. 

“No, no, captain ; you know very well there never are 
any letters for you, only four times in the year, with your 
half-pay,” responded the clerk, angrily, slamming the little 
door in his face. 

“ Fothfend my sthars,” returned the captain, lifting the 
copper-headed cane, and rapping it against his lean, lank 
jaws, “ whath can the admiralthy be abouth ? One frigathe! 
— only one frigathe ! — I thay, and I’d thscour the chan- 
nel!” 

“So I should think, Captain Humbug,” I replied, as he 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


257 

seemed to wish for my acquaintance, contemptuously look- 
ing, at the same time, on his diminutive figure ; “ but you 
forget the channel wants no scouring, since we are at peace 
now.” 

“ Thtrue, thtrue, mosth respecthed thsir ; I was aberra- 
thed ath thath momenth, as Mrs. Humbug would say. 
This is peacth — inglorious peacth ; huth for thath, thsir,” 
stopping short, turning round, and taking the lappel or 
collar of my coat in his hand, while with the other he 
wielded his copper-headed cane, “ I would thcapture the 
Frencth parthew — as Mrs. Humbug would remark.” 

“ How do you do, Mr. Dillon ? how do you do ?” said a 
man who squinted, coming up to the captain, and then sud- 
denly retreating. “ I beg your pardon, sir, I took you for 
Mr. Dillon.” 

“ Mr. Dillon, thsir !” cried the other, starting and sput- 
tering with rage ; “ do you not know who I am ? Foth- 
fend my sthars,” again advancing, and seizing the fright- 
ened squinter’s coat by the collar, “ I am Capthain Grim 
Emmeth Humbug, of his Britthanic Majesty’s half-pay in 
in the navy.” 

“ I humbly beg your pardon, sir,” exclaimed the other, 
getting out of his way as quickly as possible. 

“ Ith is mosth asthounding, respecthed thsir,” said the 
captain, turning to me, “ these people have no idea of rank. 
Would you believe ith, no lather than last nighth a crowd 
of miscreanths came running through the village, hoothing 
and huzzaing in the most asthounding and disordered style, 
ana the audacious villains threw a sthone — what am I say- 
ing ? — not a sthone, buth an absoluthe fragmenth of rock, 
into my room — my salon a mungther, as Mrs. Humbug 
says. Do you know — but, lor, how foolish I am ! you 
canth know — F thell you, thsir,” once more halting and 
taking me by the lappel, “ it posithively came between my 
wife’s lipth and her thaucer, as she was drinking her tea. 

There’s many a thlip 
Thwixt the cup and the lip, 

as Mrs. Humbug remarked ath the thime.” 

“ But was it so large a stone as that, sir ?” 

“ Large, thsir ! why, fothfend my sthars, ith was of such 

s 


2.58 


CAVENDISH J OR, 


a size, Mrs. Humbug theclares she never saw anything to 
equal ith — quithe asthounding ! But here is my duinbsthile, 
pray walk in.” 

“ Thank you, captain ; but really ” 

“ Don’th menthion any thing — say nothing against ith. 
I pray you walk in ; you, ath any rathe, shall be safe from 
these miscreanths. Oh, the villains ! quieth, peacethable 
people to be ravaged in such a manner ! ith is asthounding ! 
But ith becomes the duty of H. M.’s officers to tholerathe 
no such proceedings, and if the mayor don’th thake nothice 
of ith, as sure as I shall geth my flag, I’ll lay it before the 
Lords Commissioners of the Admiralthy. Buth, pray walk 
in, thsir ; never say no thew a good offer.” 

“That’s my plan in the present instance,” I was about to 
rejoin, for I wanted to get off and read Letitia’s answer, 
which I had obtained at the post-office ; but finding that I 
must either lose the principal button on my coat, or enter 
old Humbug’s dumbstile, as he expressed it (though any 
other adjective would have been more appropriate for his 
style than dumb), I thought I had better consent to the 
former than spoil a new mufti coat ; I therefore entered, and 
was introduced to Mrs. Humbug. 

She was a short, dumpy, woman, with small grey cat’s 
eyes. She had a lean turn-up nose, upon whose extreme 
point there flourished a bunch of those elegant little red 
flowers, called pimpernels . Her mouth, like her husband's, 
was large, which she had vainly endeavoured to screw to- 
gether for such a length of time, that at last it became one 
conglomeration of wrinkles, striking off from the centre on 
the radiating principle, like the sun’s rays from your own 
image in the water on a sunny day ; while the formidable 
bows of brown satin ribbon, and curls of false hair, were 
enough to frighten any one much less sensitive than my- 
self. 

When I beheld such a sight, I did not exactly like to run 
away, but I certainly did wonder what in the name of for- 
tune had brought me into such a predicament. 

After going through the usual tortures of a first acquaint- 
ance, where one has no sort of wish to form a second, I 
beheld the door open, and a servant advanced with a letter 
on a black tin tray. No sooner did Captain Humbug’s eye 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


259 

catch the longitudinal form and large seal which bespoke it 
to be on H. M.’s service, than he darted forward, demanding 
through what channel it had arrived. “ A boatman has 
just brought it from Portsmouth dock-yard, sir.” 

“ I hope you’re treating him well in the kitch — in the 
servanth’s hall ?” 

“ Yes, sir. Shall we give him some beer ?” 

“ Beer, beer ! yes, by all meanth ; how can you athk me 
such a quethshion ?” 

‘‘The key, sir, you got the key,” muttered the servant, 
looking at me. The captain was perplexed ; he turned to 
see if I observed him, and most maliciously I kept my eye 
fixed upon him, till at length he drew the cankered key of 
his beer-cask from his waistcoat pocket, and slid it gently 
into the servant’s hand, looking intently on the seal. 

This little degradation was soon forgotten, and summon- 
ing a double share of pomposity to his aid, he exclaimed, 
“ As thure as I shall get my flag, here isth my appointment 
afloath. Now, no blubbering,” to his wife, who showed no 
signs of sobbing. “ We musthall thserve our counthry, when 
called for. Now, Molly,” to the servant, “no tears, no 
crying ; England expecths thath every man will do histh 
duthy. My wife, you pertheeve, thsir, isth a woman of the 
greathesth thsentimenth and feeling.” 

“ Quite so,” I rejoined, “ and as I think the presence of 
a stranger is a restraint at such moments, allow me to take 
my leave.” And despite of his hospitable invitation to des- 
patch me at dinner — for two such mouths could have effect- 
ed nothing less — I mounted my horse, and shaped my course 

for villa, where Letitia was now residing with her 

uncle. 

Following the servant, who announced my name, I found 
myself in an apartment partaking of a library and boudoir. 
One half of the room seemed to own the precedency of a 
literary bachelor, being in all that exquisite confusion which 
imparts such an exquisite feeling of delight to your true book- 
worm ; while the other was veiled in that chaste softness 
and simplicity which carries to the mind a feeling of epicu- 
rean refinement. 

Letitia was seated near a window, colouring some sketches 
taken in Italy. I advanced, and before she was aware, found 

s 2 


260 


CAVENDISH ; OR, 

it to be her Neapolitan villa by moonlight. You, Caven- 
dish, were serenading under the window ; I, it seems, had 

vanished in the distance, in pursuit of . She appeared 

rather confused, and hastily placed it out of sight. Her 
health seemed much improved, but the garb of mourning, 
and the melancholy tone that pervaded her countenance, 
made her features more lovely in their sorrow, than the most 
joyous face could have appeared in all the gaiety of woman’s 
gayest hours. 

Love will harmonize with any mood ; but I think the 
penseroso is most consonant to my feelings. Her welcome 
was kind in the extreme ; she seemed very glad to see me, 
and inquired whether Mr. Cavendish had not accompanied 
me to pay his visit. I then informed her that you had 
joined the Talthorpe, at w r hich her expression betrayed re- 
gret. You see she does not forget the friend of her future 
husband. 

Opposite to us, reading on a settee, was Lord D , a 

benevolent-looking man, of some sixty summers ; with very 
good taste, he shortly rose and left the room. Something 
there is in Letitia’s manner which I am at a loss to under- 
stand. I had always taken her to be a girl of warm feelings 
and lively impulse, but I never remark these now. I find 
in her no transport corresponding to that which falters on 
my lip and trembles at my heart on seeing her — but perhaps 
*he feels too much crushed by poor Lady Carleton’s death 
to rally back immediately, or get into her former spirits. 
Having acquainted her with my expectations of shortly join- 
ing another ship, I took courage to hint my hopes that my 
return would be gladdened by the possession of her hand. 

“ 1 shall not touch upon my age, Ernest,” she replied ; 
“ you know the extreme youth and inexperience of us both ; 
nor need I remind you, who sympathise with me so deeply, 
that my best, nay, almost sole friend, is lost to me ; and 
until time has in some degree softened down the bitterness 
of that recollection, I feel my heart will be unable to expand 
jits feelings sufficiently to embrace the numerous duties which 
you ask me to undertake.” 

Such being the case, delicacy forbade me to renew the 
Subject ; and after residing near her in constant intercourse 
for six weeks, I took my leave, and must own that no incon- 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


261 


siderable pang of disappointment was mine, when I felt the 
pure cold kiss she bestowed on my forehead, in lieu of mine 
so intensely impassioned, while a burning tear intruded on 
my eyelid, as the sense of joys departed, and woes in store, 
came over me. Notwithstanding her improvement in health, 
her friends are apprehensive that Consumption, that scourge 
of England’s fair and blooming flowers, will seize her as his 
prey ; and her physician declares that she is letting grief 
feed on her young life as fast as possible. This is a subject 
that wrings my heart — I leave it— 

Does a man go to London, that populous mart of all na- 
tions and all things, through which flows one continued 
stream of living creatures, from whence thousands daily take 
their departure for ever, he meets some old friend he never 
dreams of, and at a moment when, had he been two minutes 
later, the man would have been off to — Heaven knows where. 

Finding it necessary to remind those gents at the Admi- 
ralty that I wanted a ship, I started from Portsmouth, and 
was the next morning soundly reposing in Gordon’s Hotel, 
Albemarle Street. By noon my breakfast had been devour- 
ed, and myself on the road to Lord Melville’s office ; when, 
what should I meet in Whitehall, but — an — apparition ! — 
— yes, I can call it no less. A huge camlet cloak, apparently 
about six yards in diameter, with a stil 1 more huge cape, 
reaching within two feet of the ground, half smothered, half 
displayed a pair of legs, cased in white kerseymere inex- 
pressibles, with a gold-laced seam, met at the knee by a pair 
of hessian boots, with a gold tassel. The figure loomed in 
breadth about five feet four, in height about four feet five. 
Over this Athos of Camlet came a little, pompous, insignifi- 
cant, pouting face, while the whole was surmounted by a 
dashing new beaver cocked' hat, about eighteen inches high, 
and bound with the same costly materials as the inexpressi- 
bles’ seams. It was shipped a little askew, or, as we say, 
on a wind. The left side of the cloak was protruded by the 
brazen scabbard point of a uniform sword, while the falling 
and receding half on the right hand displayed — what was it ? 
it was — it was — coppernicum ! and he, the little man within, 
that this mountain gave birth to, who should it — or rather 
who could it in possibility be, but my old friend, Captain 
Grim Emmet Humbug ! 


CAVENDISH J OR, 


262 

“ Blessth my thsoul, thsir, who’d have thougthth it ?” 
said he, extending his arm, coppernicum and all. “ Foth- 
fend my thstars, whath broughth you here, thsir ? Jacobth, 
my thson, don’t pull my rocquelawth so hard.” This latter 
sentence was addressed to a rosy, chubby little rascal behind, 
who was riding his mother’s umbrella cock-horse, as the 
saying goes, at the same time pulling at his father’s cloak 
for partial support. 

“ I came up to get a ship, sir.” 

“ Oh, thsir,” returned the captain, drawing himself up as 
stiff as Punch, with ineffable contempt, “ ish that all ? If 
you were to behave yourself, I could give you a vacanthy in 
mine, H. M. S. Welladay.” 

“ Indeed !” said I, bowing, and wishing him good morn- 
ing. 

Having seen the First Lord of the Admiralty, and had 
some farther conversation with the pompous captain, it be- 
came a settled point that I was to join H. M. S. Welladay. 
In a fortnight my adieus and respects had been paid to my 
family, and I was moored in the coffee-room of the George, 
over that which weary nature craves for, after a long jour- 
ney. On arriving on board my ship, which was a seventy- 
four, the first sight which struck my eyes was the first- 
lieutenant, Mr. Bulldog, cuffing and swearing right and left. 

“ Squeak, you young beggar , squeak !” he cried, seizing 
a midshipman by the throat, and holding him in that manner 
till nearly suffocated ; then throwing him on the deck, 

“ There, you d young son of a gun, say your prayers ! 

Well, what the h are you looking at ?” addressing me, 

for I stood perfectly aghast at such a sight. 

“ I am looking, sir,” I replied, " out of pure astonish- 
ment. I therefore beg leave to give you that note, and re- 
tire below.” 

“ D your blood, sir ! stay here,” he returned, tearing 

open the letter, which was from Captain Humbug. On 
reading this, his countenance altered. “ Will you dine with 
us in the ward-room to-day ?” 

“ Allow me, with all respect, sir, to be excused, and, at 
the same time, I beg leave to remark, before you repeat the 
free use of oaths to me, that among the articles of war may 
be found one which prohibits all ungentlemanlike language. 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 263 

under pain of being cashiered by sentence of court- 
martial. 

I did not wait to see the effect of this speech on the lieu- 
tenant. It was quite enough for me to see the dismay 
painted on the visages of those around, and I therefore 
descended to the gun-room. The ship had been some time in 
commission, and was now nearly ready for sea. Accordingly 
the greater part of the officers had joined. I had been in- 
formed on shore, that the mess contained one or two 
obnoxious fellows, in the shape of old passed midshipmen, 
some of whom do nothing but swear and grumble through- 
out the day, and get tipsy at nightfall, more especially 
vowing vengeance and hatred against any lad of family, if 
they imagine his interest will gain promotion, before their 
length of servitude. This is another product of the in- 
famous state of our naval promotion, and one which, however 
reprehensible, is, after all, but too natural. To return. 
These fellows wished to rule as absolute monarchs over 
the hobbadehoys — that is, mids, of the same standing as 
myself, neither youngster nor oldster, too strong to be 
bullied, too juvenile to be the ascendants. 

Having begun my career in the ship, by giving a rap on 
the knuckles to the first-lieutenant, it was not likely 1 
should allow myself to be brow-beaten by these old buffers, 
sometimes the most ignorant, bigoted creatures in exist- 
ence ; and opening the gun-room door, which I of course 
left the servant to shut, I sauntered along with all possible 
carelessness and freedom, took a chair, and seated myself at 
the dinner-table. They all stared ; no one spoke. Taking 
out my snuff-box, and looking into it minutely, I said aloud 
in a measured tone, “ Gentlemen, my name is D’Aquilar. 

I have just come down” here I paused, took a pinch of 

the powdered tobacco, and returning the box to my pocket, 
looked wistfully at nothing, as if in deep thought, and then 
proceeded, “ from the skipper to join the ship. Steward ! 
knife, plate, fork, and tumbler. Mr. Caterer, I’ll thank you 
for a slice of that roast beef before you. Heh, there, my 
fine fellow opposite, my friend and pitcher that is to be, 
pass that bottle near you. Here’s a lufftacle's commission 
for one and all of us, full allowance, and no banyan days. 
Don’t stare, youngster, don’t stare,” to a mid whose eyes, in 


264 


CAVENDISH ; OR, 


common with the rest, seemed starting from his head. 
“ Every man for himself, you know, and the devil take the 
hindmost ! I say, my boys, does your first-lieutenant take you 
all for pigs, that he squeezes your throats till you squeak ?” 

“ Squeak ! yes,” mumbled an oldster, “ his name’s 
Bulldog ; he knows how to give young rats a shaking, ay, 
and puppies too,” casting a glance at me. 

“ Ah,” I returned, “ I understand ; but old buffers, 
having arrived at the hoggish state, are, I suppose, ex- 
empted. Very right too, because their hides are so tough, 
and heads so thick, that very little impression could be 
made on them. Ton my soul, you youngsters ,” laying 
particular stress on the last word, “ are a devilish good- 
looking set of fellows. I expected as much from what the 
sweet souls told me ashore. D’ye get much leave ? How 
many watches are ye in ? Come, there are a good batch of us. 
My mate, there, over the way, with the curly hair, — do me 
the pleasure to take wine. Steward, bring me the wine.” 

I naver hard o’ sich a thing, sir ; there’s noon in this 
mess, I’m thinking,” answered the functionary, who came 
from the north. 

“Heaven defend me, sir! which?” I replied, with my 
Irish brogue, making the youngsters laugh for the first 
time during the last six months. “ Never mind, my pigeon, 
faith sure, and we’ll imagine it. — Here, steward, take away 
this reeking mixture,” handing away the rum-and-water I 
had mixed, and barely tasted, on first sitting down. 

“ I say, Sawney, where’s the doctor’s mate ?” demanded 
the quarter-master, coming down from the deck. 

“ There he is,” answered the steward, pointing out a 
conceited little man in spectacles. “ Plase, Mr. Doctor’s- 
mate, you’re wanted,” said the quarter-master, going up to 
him. 

“ Doctor’s-mate !” re-echoed the little man, starting up, 
and even deserting his beloved friends, knife, fork, and 

platter, “ who calls me doctor’s-mate ? D you, sir. 

I’m not a doctor’s-mate,” cried the little man, waxing as 
hot as possible, “I’m not ; I am an assistant-surgeon by the 
last Admiralty regulation. Boy, hand me the navy-list.” 

“ Yes,” continued the quarter-master; “ but when I en- 
tered the sarvice you were always called doctor’s-mates — a 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


265 


very good name ; I sees no ’cashun to alter it, sir. What’s 
a name ? They calls me tattered, tazing Tom ; but I’m 
Tom Luffalong, quarter-master.” 

Another messenger now came in, to know why the doc- 
tor’s-mate had not made his appearance on deck, when there 
was a man with a broken leg, bleeding to death ! “ Ah ! 

good ; — compound fracture, I suppose — tibia, perhaps fibula, 
too !” and away started the doctor in joy at the prospect of 
taking the rust off his implements, which he hastened to 
get, repeating to himself “ compound fracture ! — must be a 
knife case.” 

“ Beg your pardon, sir,” said tazing Tom, the quarter- 
master, arresting him, “ but if so be as it’s a knife-case, may 
be you want a case-knife ;” tendering his own huge chopper 
of a thing, that hung in a laniard at his waist. 

“ Out of the way, you scoundrel !” kicking tazing Tom. 

The victim of the surgeons being despatched, a formal 
complaint was made to the first-lieutenant, that quarter- 
master Luffalong was drunk. Upon this, two marines were 
sent with a naval habeas corpus , i. e. a pair of bayonets, to 
bring the logician before him. “ How’s this, sir, that 
you are drunk ? — the assistant- surgeon says that you in- 
sulted him.” 

“ Oh, no, sir ; no such thing wbatsomdever, your honour : 
you mustn’t be led astray that way, by his report. It’s 
perfectly a mistake, your honour. Now, your honour, that 
gemman” pointing to his accuser, “is an edicated man. I 
won’t say he shows it ; but I knows it. So am I, your 
honour, an edicated man ; but not so large an edication as 
he, ’cause as how I got my laming at Oxford — that’s to 
say, I was quarter-master of the Isis, fifty-two ; whereas, 
that gemman was doctor’s-mate of the Cambridge, seventy- 
four ; so your honour must make allowances. But, as to 
drunk, your honour — beg your pardon, sir, that’s utterly 
impossible, ’cause I never drinks no spirits whatever — rum, 
gin, and brandy excepted, as our parson says ! As for 
water — can’t be that, your honour — I never tiches it ; but, 
that tay ! (tea) , — beg your pardon, sir, — that tay ! — it’s 
absolutely ruinous — I can’t abide it — it makes me as ner- 
vous, sir, I can’t stand still, sometimes — my hand shakes 
so, I don’t know how to con the ship ; and (hiccup), lord, sir, 


266 CAVENDISH ; OR, 

how I do (hiccup), — terrible bad — surely. Beg your par- 
don, your honour — I hope you don’t touch tay ! But as 
for ray being drunk, sir/ 7 shaking his head like an owl, “ 1 
ha’n’t been three sheets in the wind, saving yesterday, when 
I was cook o’ the mess, for these three weeks — more’s the 
shame ! Beg your pardon, sir — but a sailor’s no sailor, as 
you may say, unless he get’s drunk once a- week, to keep 
the steam up, when he goes ashore on leaf, once a-week on 
a Sinday.” 

“ What do you mean, sir, by all this rigmarol ?” thundered 
the lieutenant, trying to bring him up for the twentieth 
time. But Tom was somewhat of a favourite among the 
officers, and his manners were so droll, that none of them 
were sorry to hear him talk, provided themselves were not 
the objects of his ridicule. 

“ All that I mane to say, your honour, is — beg your par- 
don — that I'm as sober as a blind fiddler’s dog, and as stiff 
as a church ; so much for not drinking any of that tarna- 
tion tay this week ! I’ll walk a plank, if your honour likes 
it!” 

So saying, his defence, which was uttered with the gravest 
volubility and maudlin quickness, being ended, he was de- 
sired to walk on one of the narrow planks, without devia- 
ting beyond the seam on either side. Having accomplished 
this, he turned round, saying, with a twitch of his waist- 
band, “ Beg your pardon, sir — 1 told your honour how 
’twould be ; — ye see I’m as sober as a jidge.” He then 
gave his frontal lock a pull with his finger and thumb, made 
a scrape with his right foot, and was allowed to take his 
departure ; having been cautioned not to be too free with 
his tongue or his tea. 

But no sooner had he got beyond hearing of the quarter- 
deck, than holding out his hand, with a broken finger, to 
some of the seamen, he exclaimed, “ You may do very well 
for a first-lieutenant, but you can’t make tazing Tom drunk 
without the licker.” 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


267 


CHAPTER XXXI. 

If that rebellion 

Came like itself, in base and abject routs, 

Led on by bloody youth, goaded with rage, 

And countenanced by boys and beggars, 

You reverend father then had not been there. 

Shakspeare. 

d’aQUILAr’s NARRATIVE CONTINUED. 

In a few days after my arrival on board, H.M.S. Welladav, 
with a crowd of sail, and a stiff breeze, was passing the 
Royal George’s red buoy at the rate of nine miles an hour. 
There is a dull, heavy aching at my heart, Cavendish, as 
my eye involuntarily wanders towards the isle which con- 
tains my dearest earthly treasure ; but a pinch of princeza 
is between my fingers, and I think what, after all, matters it, 
how a man lives, or where he dies. The tomb — the tomb 
is alike the goal for all : some reach it by a path bedecked with 
flowers, while others wend their way through thorns. Is it 
worth grieving, hoping, caring for ? 

And now, after all this moralising, I ask myself, can I tear 
ambition from my bosom ? Hardly. — Can I tear hope ? 
Barely. — Can I tear love ? Never. Then why waste time 
in moralising, since however well we know the weakness of 
our hearts, we still pursue them. 

Our destiny is South America ; and before I return, I 
hope to have plucked the Hesperian fruit — in other words, 
to have an epaulette on my right shoulder. Or what busi- 
ness have I with three cousins, members of parliament for 
their fathers’ boroughs ? 

Very little occurred on the voyage out, except some noc- 
turnal gambling, pour passer le temps , and a general broil or 
so between the oldsters and the hobbadehoys, respecting 
the propriety of the latter leaving the berth at nine o’clock, 
when the captain allows them till ten, which broils ended in 
the victory of the younger party, by the decision of the 
captain, who very justly said that his majesty had made no 
distinction between young or old, in giving them their quar- 
ters, and it was therefore only right that they should equally 


268 CAVENDISH ; OR, 

enjoy them.* Hence arose a most inveterate jealousy — 
not affecting me much, if I except a very determined en- 
gagement with the doctor’s-mate. We were sitting near a 
port ; some angry words passed between us, and he was 
eyeing me most maliciously through his gold spectacles. 

I imagined he directed his gaze towards a freckle, which 
these warmer climes had implanted on the end of my nose. 
Now, consider, was not this too gross a breach of privilege 
to pass unnoticed ? Very decidedly it was, and I therefore 
drew such a false medium from his sight, and committed it 
(the pair of aureant spectacles) to the mercies of the fishes, 
remarking at the same time, “ Gould is the root of all evil, 
Mr. Mangle- worse-all, as the old ballad says.” Much more 
followed, untold in story, and unsung in song. 

Among other nice little amusements was that of swop- 
ping. By-the-bye, among the gentlemanly Talthorpes, you 
had none of this — I’ll describe — it was conducted thus : — 

At seven, we all gathered round the mess-table, and each 
opening his desk, commenced “ Swop, swop, who’ll swop ?” 
demanded a dozen voices. “ I ! — I ! — 1 !” answered as 
many more. “ What’s the go ?” — “ A gold watch, a hone, 
a case of nautical instruments, Inman’s Tables — last edition.” 
— “ Who said Inman’s Tables ? I’ll swop for them.” — “Very 
well, what will you give ?” — “ A new watch bill, never writ- 
ten in, a silver pencil-case, and two packets of ink-powder.” 
— “ Oh, that's not enough ; consider fifteen shillings, prime 
cost.” — “ Well, I add half a dollar.” — “ Done !” — “ Stay, 
I cry off ; they’re gone in the binding : d’ye see anything 
green in my eye ?” — “ Swop ! swop ! who’ll swop ? here’s a 
bran new spirit case to hold three gallons, a conjuror for 
making coffee in the middle watch.” — “ Arrah, now, if I 
won’t swop my chest,” cried a young Irishman, going be- 
yond them all in his enthusiasm. “ What for, Pat ? a loly- 
pop ?” inquired one. “ Oh, to be sure he will, he’d sell his 
mother for a bit of barley- sugar,” answered some one for 
him ; “ would’nt ye, Pat ?” — “ None of your pattering me, 
now, or I’ll be giving ve a whapping — if I don’t, bad luck 
to me ! and that’s leaving out the s, by the powers.” — “Ay, 
ay, Pat, my boy, but adding the s makes it plural, and two 
can play at that game.” — “ My honey, so they can, and a 
* See Notes on Naval Reform, at the end of the volume. 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


269 

mighty pretty little game it is, sure ; let us have a tich at it, 
hearty and the Hibernian, who was the most irascible son 
of the Emerald Isle ' that I ever met with, gave the other 
mid a violent blow on the face. “ Clear for a ring ! clear 
for a ring !” was the cry. But so eager were the combat- 
ants to deface God’s image, that they waited not for these 
preliminaries, and immediately fell-to with a will ; while 
the neutrals, or rather lookers-on, for every one sided with 
one or the other, made the desired circle. 

“That’s right, Pat of the bull-corner, tickle him up under 
the ribs,” sang out one party. “ Go it, Johns — now for his 
knowledge-box,” resounded the other. “ Hah, my shaver, 
but ye caught it now, or it’s no fault of mine,” shouted the 
Irishman, as the ensanguined stream rushed forth from the 
nasal caverns of his antagonist, who, reeling, fell to the 
earth — that is to say, the deck. 

Mangle-worse-all, the assistant-surgeon, was at hand 
instantly, and, though not liking to risk his own sacred 
person in the perils of combat, could yet behold the wars of 
others with great stoicism, and much magnanimity ; and 
having introduced some lint into the bleeding orifice, as a 
styptic, away they went again, hammer and tongs, while 
the clamour exceeded every thing, except a midshipman’s 
berth — to beat which, the devil let loose in a theatre, with 
St. Paul’s trunk-maker to help him, would have monstrous 
hard work. 

At this crisis a voice was heard at the door, near which I 
stood, leaning against the mizen-mast. “ Open the door 
directly,” said the speaker from the outside, not very well 
distinguished amid the racket. “ Oh, you — stay out and 

be , you can’t come in now, till the sport’s over. Ay, 

you may kick and be diddled !” returned a mid. 

At this I heard the steps retreat. In a few minutes the 
right-hand door was tried on the other side of the deck, and 
which was seldom used ; that also was secured ; and Paddy 
having been floored in the second round, the third had just 
commenced with redoubled ardour, as the odds in favour of 
the Hibernian had fallen. “ I bet five to three on Johns; 
who’ll take ?’ ; 

“ I— I— .” 

“ Done, with both of you/ 


270 CAVENDISH ; OR, 

Crash went the right-hand door into fifty splinters, and 
trooping through the breach came six marines, who formed 
the body-guard of no less a personage than Captain Grim 
Emmet Humbug, closely attended by his first-lieutenant. 

Imagine to yourself the Roman senators, when the Gauls 
entered their forum, — you have at once before you the ap- 
pearance of the middies, when the shade of Grim Humbug 
appeared. Too warmly, truly redolent of life to seem quite 
statues, and yet too still and breathless for animated creatures 
of passion. The Romans were taken for tutelary gods — 
these, doubtless, for the inhabiting fiends. Slowly the 
bared and brawney arms dropped from their attitude of 
defence, while the fist gradually unclenched ; and first, 
each casting a glance at his antagonist, transferred his gaze 
to his superior, as much as to say, “ I wish it would all turn 
out a dream.*' * The senators were insulted by having one 
of their beards pulled. These, by Captain Humbug seizing 
the Irishman’s ear. 

“ Blessth my thsoul ! fothfend my thstars ! whath do you 
mean by all thisth ?** 

“Which, arrah, my jowl? we meanth to be fighting.** 

“ Jowl, thsir ! did you addressth thath word thew me ?** 

“ Devil a word of it, your honour ; it was only myself I 
was talking to at all, at all.** 

“ Oh, thsir, and sinthe you meanth to be fighting, 
pray, thsir, may I ask whath you meanth to be fighting 
for*?’* 

This was a hard question to an Irishman ; but after rub- 
bing his noddle, and looking at his foe, who was getting on 
his jacket, he replied, “ An save the soul of me, sir, if I 
know any thing about it ; it was all for a little private 
amusement, sir.** 

“ Privathe amuthementh, thsir ? are you noth aware it is 
directly in contradiction to the articlesth of war ? Do you 
know, or do you not, thath ith isth breaking through every 
law of the th service ?** 

“ Is it breaking through the law you say, Captain Hum- 
bug ? Faith, my jewel, in ould Ireland it’s that makes the 
fun of it.** 

“ How dare you talk to me of fun, thsir ! — when you 
thstand there imbrued in the incarnardine hue of the gore 


THE PATRICIAS AT SEA. 271 

of your fellow- creaturesth ? — if I hadn't very strong nervesth, 
thsir, I should be obliged to go away.’' 

“ Arrah, by J — , sir, I should like to see you at it, sure.” 
But the captain did not hear this, and, turning to the other 
combatant, he began, 

“ And you, thsir, whath do you think of all thisth ?” 

“ I think nothing, sir, as Shakspeare says in Hamlet.” 

Seeing what a glorious opportunity was afforded me for 
working mischief, I thought the ould country's fame was 
concerned in letting it slip, and accordingly taking up a 
book that lay near me, while the others were all busily em- 
ployed, I gave it a slight jerk, knocking one candle down, 
and, putting my hand on the other, I thus extinguished 
both, leaving tiie gun-room a complete den of darkness. 
Previous to this, however, I had ascertained Bulldog’s posi- 
tion, and hitting him a blow under the ear with my left 
hand, so as not to be seen, it sent him reeling into the midst 
of the contending parties. In a feigned voice, I shouted, 
“ A goose, a goose ! pay him, master tailors !” 

A hint suffices for the wise. In an instant the vacant 
door was blocked up, and the daring eight were set upon by 
the whole hive. “ Now my lads, Newgate’s a-fire, cripples 
are cheap, out with your handkerchiefs, and belt the sodgers. 
Bang the empty bottles, they’re only marines.” 

“ Whack, whack,” resounded the blows of the knotted 
handkerchiefs ; “ smash, smash, rattle, rattle,” went the 
desks, which, lying open at hand upon the table, were 
seized, regardless of the consequences, and contents thrown 
pell-mell upon the heads of the intruders. Books were 
flying in every direction ; octavo, duodecimo, and heavy 
quarto. Poetry, neither soft nor enchanting, but very 
forcible ; rhetoric, that found its way to the head, battered 
the body, but touched not the heart ; Bibles and “ Common 
Prayers,” that failed to illumine the darkness of such a 
reformation, and log-books that now only kept the “ dead 
reckoning .” 

“ Give it them right and left — the skipper’s gone, and 
the first luff’s escaped ; whack the sodgers, my true jackets 
of blue.” 

“ Fothfend my stars ; I do protesth, gentlemen, I am 
Captain Grim Emmet Humbug ; and if you do noth in- 


272 


CAVENDISH ; OR, 

sthanthly releathe me. I’ll writhe to the Lordsth of the 
Admiraithv, and — and — cashier ” 

“ You lie, you lie, you tinker/" answered some mid, who 
had the captain under his feet. “ I’ll whack you, I will ; 
take that, and that, you know you’re only corporal of 
marines.” 

“ I am noth.” 

“ You are, I see your stripes.” 

“ Alasth ! alasth ! I feel yours ; but I astnure you I am 
not the corporal.” 

“ Don’t cram me ; you smell of pipe-clay whack, 
whack, “ you’ll be as fat as a hog to-morrow, corporal.” 

“ Thspare me, in mercy thspare !” 

“ I’ll see you first, you’re spare enough already ; 

you want a little basting, so hold your jaw.” 

“ Oh ! the lordsth of the Admiralthy ” 

“ You be smothered, master corporal, like a horse in a 
ditch, and the Lords of the Admiralty too ; here’s a whack 
for their sake. I wish I had that secretary here, I’d soon 
knock a commission out of him. Hurrah, my hearties, 
now or never ; go it Charlotte, — up to your eyes in fun, — 
hit ’em hard, they won’t swell, — down with ’em, they’ve no 
friends,” were the cries which towered above the rout. 

“Gentlemen, I’ll mast-head you all ; I’m Mister Bull- 
dog, your first-lieutenant.” 

“ Oh yes, don’t you wish you may get it ? — that’s a thun- 
dering yarn of yours, my pigeon ; we know who you are 
very well, — you’re only the drummer-boy, so mind your 
drumsticks, and none of your gammon.” 

“ Gentlemen, upon my soul and honour, gentlemen, I am 
your first-lieutenant ; feel my epaulette — feel my epaulette.” 

“ D your epaulette, it’s only a worsted shoulder- 

knot.” 

“ My eye is out,” groaned Captain Humbug, as some- 
thing hit him in the face ; then falling to the ground, amid 
the din was heard the melody of a musical snuff-box, to 
the tune of “We’re a’ noddin’.” 

Meanwhile the six marines had vainly endeavoured to use 
their muskets or find their way out. Very luckily they had 
no bayonets, and the evil genii of mischief forgot to remind 
any one that all the uniform swords were hanging up abaft. 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


273 

Still the work of jobation proceeded. When, alarmed lest 
the captain (for whom I had some regard , — ecce signum , — 
as he was a warm-hearted man, though endowed with much 
folly and vanity) should be seriously injured, and determined 
to escape at once, before I was caught, which would not 
have served my turn near so well, I crept up to the broken 
door, while the two sentries were wrestling with some other 
would-be fugitive, who had more strength but less cunning 
than myself, I managed to slip out behind, and, making no 
inconsiderable fuss with my fears for the captain’s safety, I 
procured several lights, and, accompanied by the whole 
corps militaire, I led the way to the larboard, or left-hand 
door, which the reader recollects had not been broken, leav- 
ing the other one for my messmates to make their escape. 
In a loud voice I demanded that the door should be in- 
stantly opened, or I would force it. Suddenly the racket 
ceased, a rush was heard, but no answer ; and having waited 
till I thought the offenders had all sneaked off, I ordered the 
marines to break down the door with the butt-ends of their 
muskets. It was soon shivered, and we entered. The first 
sounds that struck upon our ears were the musical notes of 
the snuff-box, “ We’re a’ noddin’, nid — nid — noddin’.” 

The sight was unequalled : benches, chairs, stools, books, 
desks, muskets, quadrants, sextants, cups, tumblers, gore, 
ink, and marines, strewed the deck. Here was a watch 
spinning away without its case — there a case without its 
works. Fragments of every thing might have been found, 
except a midshipman ; not even the ghost of one was to be 
seen ; nought but their deeds of darkness. I never beheld 
any thing like it. 

In the centre of all this chaos, under the table, were two 
individuals, sadly worn and battered, mauling one another 
with all the strength and furor of two old women ; we 
directed the light of our lanterns towards them, when lo ! 
behold ! there lay Captain Grim Emmet Humbug, close! 
engaging Lieutenant Bulldog, his first luff- tackle, and secona 
in command. 

The captain’s head was supported by the loins of a 
dead marine, around his right wrist was wrapped the tail of 
a mate’s old coat, while his hand contained the before-men- 
tioned musical snuff-box, still playing ; and with all his re- 

T 


274 


CAVENDISH ; OR, 


maining force, he continued to strike its corner against Mr. 
Bulldog's face. His left hand grasped the skeleton of a 
tallow candle, with which he was flagellating the legs of 
his antagonist ; Mr. Bulldog was lying with his head 
in a quadrant case, his legs mounted over the captain's 
body, which were used to kick his superior’s back. His 
left hand held a patent silver inkstand, this he had emptied 
into the captain’s bosom ; while in his right there gleamed 
on high — what was the awful weapon ? — an ivory paper- 
knife ! Virulently was he trying to dig it into the captain's 
side, as if with the idea of transplanting his vitals. 

“ Blessth my soul !" roared forth the captain, in accents 
of pain and surprise ; “ ith that you, Mr. Bulldog ? I didn't 
expecth thisth ath your handsth. Thsir, you’ve broken 
every rib in my body." — ” A thousand pardons, Captain 
Humbug; is that indeed yourself?" returned the other. 
“ You've broken the bridge of my nose, and ruined my 
sight for ever with that cursed musical snuff-box. T always 
did hate that infernal jingle of sounds. But I am very 
sorry to have hurt you. Captain Humbug : I took you for a 
midshipman." 

“ Oh, those midshipmen ! I always thought that Heaven, 
to punish my thinth, would betray me into the hands of 
those Phillithtinth. They have done for me ; I shall never 
thurvive this night. Fancy how thocking it will seem in 
the Portsmouth and Hampshire Telegraph, copied from 
that, perhapth, into the Morning Post, that a captain of my 
name, rank, thtanding, and proximity to his flag, was set 
upon and murdered by his own midshipmen — ungrateful 
rascalth ! But they thall all be hung or shot. My dear 
Mrs. Humbug, what would she say ?" and muttering that 
sacred name to himself, he was borne to the threshold of 
his cabin, which he entered, leaning on my arm. 

Captain C g, the handsome, talented, and thoroughly 

good-natured C g, son of the orator and statesman, 

happened to be a passenger on board, and was reading in 
the fore-cabin, as we came hobbling in. “ Holloah, Hum- 
bug, is that you ?" he cried, looking up from his book at 
tne figure of misery before him, dripping with ink. “ I 
thought, captain, you went down to stop the fighting, instead 
of ii>tervdiug to join in the melee ." 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


275 

“I — I am a murthered man, I call you all to witnesstb, 
as sure as I tlishall get my flag : but what do I say? I shall 
die a captain ; why, I might as well have died twenty 
yearsth ago. They thsh&ll be punished. What would Mrs. 
Humbug say ?” 

“ Why, were she to see you now, Humbug,” answered 

C g, unable to restrain from laughter, “ she’d say with 

me, that you’re a prime fighting cove.” 

“ Capthain C g, I take it as very unkind in you to 

thsneer at my death in thisth manner. Fothfend my thstarths, 
thsir, you cannoth imagine — thsurely you do not know the 
extent — of thith piece of villany. I and the first-lieutenanth, 
Mr. Bulldog, have been thet upon, the poor man hasth been 
run through twice — myself, I think, three times. Moreover, 
he hasth received, I dare thsay, half-a-dozen pisthol-balls in 
his legs ; five of my ribsth have been broken, I apprehend, 
and thwo directh attempths made to cut my throath, and 
can you wonder, after this, that I am expiring ? I tell you 
I am dying at thisth very momenth — dying, yes, dying from 
absoluthe haemorrhage.” 

“ Where, sir, where ?” cried his steward, alarmed. 

“ You stupid fool, isn’th ith enough for me to know, to 
feel ith isth thso ? How should I know where ? Send for 
the surgeon this instanth, and thell him to bring his ” 

“ Medicine chest on his back,” rejoined C g. 

“ You’re mosth unkind, Capthain C g ; but I’ll make 

all thosthe midthipmen pay for it. I’ll thry them all by a 
courth-martial separately, collectively, individually, concre- 
tedly. I’ll tell John W 7 ilson Croker, dear old man, how they 
laughed at his respected name ; and he shall hang them all, 
ay, all — if I only survive to-night, — thath’s thew thsay. 
Could I only disthcover who puth those lighths out. I’d dis- 
thrathe him — I’d flog him — I’d puth him in ironths, thisth 
insthanth — Mr. D’Aquilar, I can relv on you ; have you anv 
idea ?” 

“ My attention, sir,” I replied, “ was very deeply engaged 
at that moment. I would not, therefore, on any account, 
undertake to say who it was.” 

“ Ah — I feel the hearthiesth grathithude thoards you, I'm 
sure; had ith not been for your astliistance I should now 
have been a corpse. Your bringing the faithful marinesth 

t 2 


276 CAVENDISH ; OR, 

and lighths, saved Mr. Bulldog and me — for all this, my 
dear Mrs. Humbug herthelf thshall thank you, — when I am 
gone ! — Oh, dear ! Steward, a glass of grog.” 


CHAPTER XXXII. 

I was set upon by some of your servants, whom, because I have in 
my just defence evil entreated, I came to make my excuse to you. 

Sydney. 

d'aquilar's narrative continued. 

The last word came forth with a sob — it was too affecting ; 
and C g and myself made a quick retreat from the pre- 

sence to the quarter-deck, while the surgeon having found 
that all the captain's bones were whole, and skin pretty 
sound, he was consigned to the soothing affections of sheets, 
blankets, &c., with a stiff glass of hot spirit and water to 
comfort him. 

By this time the ship was in a perfect uproar. All the 
mids were gathered together abaft, bearing the most sub- 
stantial evidences of having been concerned in the fray. 
“ Now, my lads," said one, “ there is very little to fear, if 
we only stick by one another. Every one must say that he 
left the berth the instant after the lights were put out. If 
ould Flummery (the captain) should ask how we came to be 
so riddled,” pointing to the tattered hose — “ mind that was 
done before we could get out. Then if they want to know 
who thrashed the skipper and first luff, bear in mind we must 
all think that to be a plot amongst those rascally marines, 
and above all, you know, none of us saw who doused the 
glims, or sung out goose, or knocked the first luff down ; 
and if he asks again, what we think of it upon the whole, 
why, we think it’s a horrible shame.” 

These being their private instructions, they were all pre- 
pared. Soon Bulldog made his appearance, and a lamentable 
one it was ; and as far as his battered state would permit, 
he cross-questioned the culprits, assisted bv the second and 
third lieutenants. “ Gentlemen,” said the first luff, €t all 
your lives are forfeited to the service.” 

“ Plow so, sir ?” they demanded. 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 277 

“ Can you ask that question ? Are you not aware ? — 
Have you not from this very capstan heard read over and 
over again the articles of war, that punishes with death even 
a hand raised to strike an officer ? and here have you one and 
all set upon your superior officers in a manner the most 
mutinous possible.” 

“ ’Twasn’t I.” — “Nor I.” — “I swear I left the place 
immediately/’ — “ So did I.” — “ And I.” — Each stoutly 
maintained he had nothing to do with the matter, and af- 
fected to believe that the marines, whose heads they had 
broken, were alone in fault, and that it had been a thing 
wholly plotted and contrived by them. Thus they maintained 
it to the last — not once did they falter ©r contradict them- 
selves. 

“ Well, at any rate,” said the lieutenant, as a last re- 
source, “ you, Mr. Johns, and you, Mr. Patrick Brawlagain, 
you cannot deny that you were fighting ?” 

“ No, sir,” returned the former, “ we do not attempt it. I 
am sure neither of us would be guilty of a falsehood on any 
consideration. Fighting is a very venial charge, compared 
with that of conspiring against you and Captain Humbug. 
For my part, sir, I hold both your heads so sacred I would 
not touch a hair.” 

“ Very well, gentlemen, in my own mind I am convinced 
you are guilty, first of mutiny, and now of falsehood ; the 
whole of you, therefore, will consider yourselves under 
arrest, until our arrival at Rio, when you will all be tried by 
a court-martial. As to you two, Messrs. Johns and Brawl- 
again, I shall take the captain’s pleasure for your punish- 
ment.” 

This being final, I was proceeding towards the hatchway, 
as I considered under the universal ban, when Mr. Bulldog 
laid his hand on my shoulder — a guilty conscience made me 
tremble. 

“ You alone, Mr. D’Aquilar, do I consider not implicated. 
On the contrary, I have to reward your zeal and attention 
in coming to our assistance ; you will therefore do your duty 
as before.” 

“ Well,” thought I, “ how monstrous civil a good thrash- 
ing makes a man ! When I first joined, Master Bull, you 
could not speak ten words without swearing, but now 


278 


CAVENDISH ; OR, 

You seem to shine with smiles and thanks 
Tomids, with your black eyes for broken shanks.” 

Having gone into the cabin for two minutes to take the 
captain’s pleasure for the disposal of the fighting pair, he 
returned to the quarter-deck, and ordered the pugilists to be 
mast-headed for the night. 

“ There’s balm for bleeding bruises ; but up ye go, my 
lads,” and they ascended. I remained on the poop with 

C g, discussing the fray, and the punishments likely to 

ensue, when he promised he would use all his efforts to per- 
suade the captain, that it would be better not to bruit the 
affair abroad by a court-martial. The assistant here came up 
to report that the marine who had served his captain for a 
pillow, had only fainted from loss of blood, and had thought 
fit to revisit this pale earth. 

The mids had been at the mast-head very little more than 
half an hour. It was a dark and gusty night ; not a star 
was to be seen. The wind was somewhat abaft the beam, 
the mainsail brailed up, and the ship’s way about seven and 
a half miles an hour. Suddenly a dark body was seen de- 
scending through the air, to leeward, from the top-mast-head. 
It was long in shape, it twirled evidently head over heels ; 
and with a shriek, borne on the wind, down it dashed into 
the depths profound — another shriek was heard, and a second 
followed in its delving course. “ Hah! they’re overboard !” 
was the simultaneous cry from many mouths. “ Watch, 
shorten sail, let go the life-buoy, clear away the quarter- 
boat !” And in as short a time as possible, the main-top- 
sail was hove to the mast, and the ship’s way deadened, when 
the quarter-boat was manned and sent away. Poor Captain 
Humbug no sooner heard of the accident, than he left his 
warm bed instantly, and came running out half-clad on the 
quarter-deck, fuming and fussing about in a dreadful stew. 
“Alas ! that this should ever have happened. Whath thshall 
we do ? whath thshall we do ?” and he waddled about like 
a duck that required an accoucheur. “ ’Tis very lamentable, 
thsuch a dreadful nighth thew be drowned in, thoo ! Mrs. 
Humbug so averthe to lossth of life ! whath would thshe 
thsay ?” 

After a long and ineffectual search, the boat returned ; 
a man was then sent to the mast-head to make conjecture 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


279 

sure — they were indeed gone ! The captain’s warmth of 
heart, despite the thrashing he had received, was much af- 
fected by this catastrophe, and he seemed to feel it in its 
deepest sense. “ Ah,” said he to me, “ I thsee my error, 
mosth resthpected thsir,” giving me in his grief an appella- 
tion which the stateliness of his rank had made him in some 
measure forget. “ If I had only thaken Mrs. Humbug’sth 
advicthe, and exthample, all thisth would have been spared 
me ; exthalted woman ! Whenever my dear thson Jacobth 
misthbehaved himsthelf, she used to make him walk up and 
down in the nursthery between two filesth of nursthery- 
niaidsth ; now if I had only followed her exthample, and 
made thosthe thew walk up and down the quarther-deck 
between thew filesth ” 

“ What, of nursery- maids, Captain Humbug ?” 

“ No, no, no, between thew filesth of marinesth at divis - 
thionths on thsunday — I say if I had only done thath I 
-should have been thspared all thisth. Oh, Mrs. Humbug, 
I’ll do ith in future,” and he retired once more to his cabin. 

These events took place on Tuesday evening, and the re- 
mainder of the week was passed in commiserating these 
unfortunates. “ What will poor Pat’s father say ? he is re- 
siding at Rio, in business.” 

“ Ay, and what will Sir Longford Johns say when he 
hears that his heir is lost in this manner ?” 

“Well, I’m very sorry for poor Pat, notwithstanding the 
fellow was always fighting with some one ; he was very 
good-natured ; and as for Johns, he was a generous, open- 
hearted fellow.” 

The death of these two had gone so far to appease the 
angry manes of captain and first-lieutenant, aided by Cap- 
tain C g’s remonstrances, that they perceived the resus- 

citation of the story before a court-martial would only be 
giving their enemies a handle to quiz them, and (here was 
vast consideration) tend to lower the service ; it was there- 
fore given up, more especially as the families of the departed 
mids were great friends of Captain Humbug. It was, how- 
ever, necessary to take some notice of the affair, and the 
offenders were therefore all fined in a sum of two dollars 
each (myself excepted), to buy two handsome lamps, which, 
by hanging in the room, would for ever prevent the recur- 


280 CAVENDISH : OR, 

reoce of such a scene. Moreover, on Sunday morning, 
when the men were mustered in divisions, the mids were 
assembled in a knot, and while the faces of their superiors 
still bore those emblems of revolt — (so say the Tories, Lord 
help the silly ones !) — the tri-colours, they apologised for la- 
bouring under strong and erroneous impressions, that the 
captain and first-lieutenant were absent during the confusion 
which took place. 

“ Now,” said C g to me, “ I am much inclined with 

my father to be antithetical ; and more truth would be 
found, I think, by reversing the position, and saying that 
the captain and lieutenant laboured under far more forcible 
impression that the mids were present.” 

“ Yes,” I replied : “ but I rejoice it ends here.” For in 
truth I did not contemplate such a serious result : in short, 
like Johns and Ophelia, I thought nothing, when I extin- 
guished the luminaries and knocked the first-lieutenant 
down — farther than doing the duty of master-at-arms, and 
having a “ spree.” 

The apologising ceremonies being over, the officers de- 
scended to inspect the lower-deck, C g and myself fol- 

lowing in their wake. Every thing was in apple-pie order, 
the captain was all smiles, the first- lieutenant all self-praise ; 
when in going round the starboard wing, some sound at- 
tracted the captain’s attention. He stopped, when an Irish 
voice was heard, saying, “ By the holy man, don’t be after 
kicking me so hard.” 

“ Who isth that ?” demanded old Humbug, “ who pre- 
sthumeth thew be absthenth from musther ?” No one 
answered. 

“ Who the devil are you ?” fiercely echoed the first-lieu- 
tenant, springing into the tier, and pulling out some human 
animal by the leg. 

** I say there, my jewel, you had better let me go, or I’ll 
peel the back o’ ye,” said the Hibernian, struggling and 
kicking with the disengaged foot. But it was useless, and in 
two minutes Patrick Brawlagain stood confessed before us. 

“ Why, Pat, is that yourself? — an’ an’t I glad to see you 
again ?” said his countryman, the surgeon. 

“ Arrah, now, honey, can ye doubt it ?” 

“ Fothfend my thstarths ! — Blessth my thsoui ! ‘ starting 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


281 

hack in surprise, “ can ith be possthible that be has rrsthen 
from the va^thev deep ? How would Mrs. Humbug ex- 
pressth her astonishment ? Well, thsir, and what may you 
have seen in your travelsth ?” 

This last sentence the captain uttered with a cool affec- 
tation of joking, which he meant to be appalling. “ By 

J , not much, sir, except a d big fellow of a shark, 

with the doctor’s-mate’s spectacles on his nose/* 

“ I hope you brought them back,” cried Mangle-worse- 
all, not clearly comprehending what had been said. 

“ Now, by St. Anthony, Mangle, d’ye think I’d go to rob 
a gentleman of his respectability, when he told me he’d 
turned philanthropist, called me too skinny to eat, and said, 
like you, that the barnacles were his only claim to philoso- 
phy. Faith, Doctor Mangle, but he looked so blood-thirsty, 
that I took him for yourself, and so didn’t I come aboard 
late last night ? 

“ Here is Mr. Johns,” said the first-lieutenant, who had 
ferreted him out from his concealment. 

“ Puth them both in ironsth,” was the captain’s reply, 
stalking away with all the starchness of insulted dignity 
and wounded pride. 

With some slight cross-examination, the following ap- 
peared to be the truth of the case. No sooner did the two 
pugilists find themselves in such an exalted situation as the 
mast-head, amid all the storms that usually attend mortals 
elevated to such high places, than they bethought themselves 
how to gain their release ; for this purpose they procured 
from the captain of the top, in consideration of a pint of 
rum, two large swabs,* with a thirty-two pound shot at- 
tached to each. These, then, they had flung overboard, 
one after the other, with an accompanying scream ; and in 
the hurry and confusion consequent, had slipped down and 
concealed themselves in the recesses of the cable-tier, where 
it was their intention to have remained until we arrived at 
Rio, and they could give the service the slip. Meanwhile 
they had some one in their confidence, who supplied them 
with necessaries from the mess. Luckily for them — foolish 
boys — they were found out — I say luckily, since they were 
only kept in irons for a fortnight, and then the affair died 
* Sea-mops without handles, weighing about ten pounds. 


282 CAVENDISH ; OR, 

away, with the latest mark of the captain’s bruises ; suc- 
ceeded by some other nine days’ wonder. 

Thenceforward I was esteemed the best-disposed, and most 
quietly-behaved young man in the mess — nay, I believe, in 
the ship. 

Of all the scamps of middies that I ever met, never has it 
been my lot to fall in with those who exceeded the reefers 
of H. M. S. Welladay in mischief. They humbugged old 
Humbug almost out of his humbug. Satan himself could 
hardly have conceived more pranks than they put in play ; 
more especially did they direct their animosity against the 
captain’s gastronomical propensities. He had, of course, a 
considerable quantity of live stock on board, chickens among 
the rest. To these the mids took so violent a liking, that 
they frequently stole a pair of fowls, cooked them on their 
conjurors, and devoured them in the middle watch. Pre- 
cautionary measures being adopted against this species of 
kidnapping, their next plan was to scatter some crumbs be- 
fore the hencoops ; and as the birds put their beaks out 
through the bars, these assassins stood by with a very sharp 
sword, and chopped their heads off. 

Thus every third or fourth morning from six to a dozen 
birds were found decapitated. The captain, of course, could 
not consume them all himself ; the heat of the climate pre- 
vented them from keeping ; he was therefore obliged to give 
them to the ward- room officers, while his tormenters had 
the gratification of knowing that all his “fresh grub” would 
be out before we reached the end of our voyage. In vain did 
old Humbug storm and “ prothesth it was foul play that 
moved nbt the mercies of the gang below ; and during one 
middle watch, a hencoop, containing twenty or more of these 
delicacies, took its flight overboard from the poop — none 
knew how; while the captain, awakened, was at his window, 
barely in time to view their departing, like a second Colum- 
bus’ crew, on a voyage of discovery for another world. 

“ Whath isth thath ?” he exclaimed. 

“ Why, its a sign there is a devil of a squall coming,” an- 
swered an old seaman, who did not recognise the voice, nor 
the quarter whence it came. “ Don’t ye see what a brood 
of old Mother Humbug’s chickens there are floating 
astern ?” 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


283 

'* Who are you ? — who are you ? Whath ! you thscoun- 
drel, do you call me Mother Humbug ?” cried the captain, 
in a passion, vainly endeavouring to look up and see who it 
was. 

“ By the holy man, it’s old shiver-the-mizen himself !” 
exclaimed the startled seaman, getting out of the way as 
fast as possible ; while the chick- owner came running forth 
upon the quarter-deck, in his nocturnal habiliments. 

“ All my thchickensth overboard ! Heave the ship to — 
heave the ship to ! Back with the maintop-sail to the mast! 
Lower a boath, and leth them be picked up immediately.” 
Having given these orders, he retreated for a moment to his 
cabin, flung round him some further clothing, and then re- 
turned to the deck, his bare spindles knocking against one 
another with cold. 

The boat was partly lowered, when a midshipman went 
up to him, and said, “ I have made inquiries, sir, and find 
that those chickens are not your property, but belong to the 
lieutenants .” 

“ Ah, ah !” said he, in great joy, then hesitating, “ buth. 
— still— I think they’d betther be picked up. Yesth, yesth 5 
make hasthe about it.” The boat was nearly touching the 
sea, and he was on the point of retiring to his cot, when the 
same midshipman returned to say that he had again beeis. 
mistaken, for that the animals belonged to the midshipmen, 
“ Oh ! oh ! thath all ?” in an under voice, tossing his head 
up. “ I- — don’th — think ith's quithe righth to hazard 
menthsth livesth for a few chickens ; Mrs. Humbug wouldn’th 
do thso — no, no, hoist the boath up, make sail; theresth 
lots of salth junk in the ship.” 

The next morning Captain Humbug saw the caterer on 
the quarter-deck, and asked him how he liked his fowls for 
breakfast. “ Fowls, sir,” said the caterer, a little conscience 
stricken, “ I assure you I have not been eating any of your 
fowls.” 

“ I’m glad to hear ith, thsir, buth I alluded to your fowlth, 
which thook a fancthy to go to sea last nighth. Why do 
you sthare ? I mean the fowlsth belonging thew your 
messth.” 

“ Our mess ? Captain Humbug, we have no fowls be- 
longing to our mess.” 


284 


CAVENDISH ; OR, 

“ No poulthry belonging to your messth ?" cried the caD- 
tain, beginning to be alarmed. “No fowlsth belonging to 
your messth, howsth thath ? howsth thath ?" 

“ Because, sir, we can't afford it." 

“ Blessth my thsoul ! blessth my thsoul ! who did thosthe 
chickensth belong to lasth nighth ? Wheresth the firsth 
lieutenant ? wheresth the stheward ?" The functionaries 
appeared before him. “ Thell me, thell me," he continued 
in an agony, “ thew whom did thath coop of chickensth be- 
long thath wasth losth overboard in the middle watch ?" 

“ Why, sir, don't you know ?" both answered in a breath ; 
“ they were the last batch in the ship : and they belonged 
to yourself !" 

Numerous bets were taken, and many lotteries made as to 
the exact time when we should arrive in port ; but HSolus 
never having been asked on the subject, nor so much as a 
card left at his quarters, he turned crusty, and showed some 
inclination to thwart us, as you shall see. 

On the of we calculated that we should arrive 

in Rio harbour within two days. Pleasure had taken a short 
lease of every heart ; the idea of abandoning salt horse and 
swine, for fresh monkeys, kid, and beef, was as charming as 
usual, when the hour of eight o’clock brought with it a ter- 
rific squall a-beam. Away went our lighter spars, to'-gal- 
lant-mast, topsail and top-gallant-yards, flying jib and stud- 
ding-sail booms, like so many reeds. Our course was such 
that we could lie very well for Rio, had it not been that the 
ship made eighteen inches of water in twenty minutes, and 
from one or two other little odds and ends, showed less dis- 
position to answer her helm than the master thought neces- 
sary — hinting, moreover, the possibility of her broaching to 
the wind, in the trough of the sea. 

In this dilemma, which was no slight one, the principal 
officers hastily assembled round the capstan, to receive the 
support of mutual opinions. “ What would you wish to 
have done. Captain Humbug?" asked the first-lieutenant. 
The captain looked pale and confused, many thought fright- 
ened : but far be it from me to say such a feeling could find 
entrance into so diplomatic a breast. Casting a glance 
aloft, while they all seemed to hang on his words, then 
taking a squint at his quarter-deck guns, which were occa- 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


285 

sionally buried in the briny foam as his ship yielded to the 
aerial pressure, he turned from them, like another HSneas, 
towards the clouded, lowering heavens above, and having 
breathed a sigh for the safety of — himself, he spoke. “ I’m 
thsure I hardly know what thew thsav ! Mrs. Humbug 
always recommended medithathion thill the violencethe of 
the thstorm was over/’ 

“ Pooh, sir,” said Bulldog, for once teazed out of the scru- 
pulous attention he always taught his cringing soul to pay to 
any worm in office, “ Mrs. Humbug can’t help us now.” 

“ I beg your pardon, thsir,” suddenly interrupted the 
other, angrily resuming his dignity for a moment ; “ her 
advicthe is thew me of the highest importancthe.” 

“ Look here. Humbug !” firmly said C— g, who had 

hitherto remained silent, but now saw how essential to our 
safety was some character that dared to take the lead, for 
which his presence of mind and skill made him most fit ; 
'“if we come to the wind with such a sea as this, it’s a lost 
hope with us ; we have no sea-room to scud — to beat off’s 
impossible ; but we may stand for our port, if we could only 
get the ship to steer. This is only to be done by cutting 
away the mizen-mast, that’s clear — so its resolved on, d’ye 
see ; and scarcely waiting for a reply, he commenced giving 
orders. “ All hands down ! — down out of the mizen-top ! — 
clear away the mizen gear ! — topmen in the lee-chains, cut 
away the laniards ! — carpenters, stand by to dub the mast 
by the board !” 

“ Buth, Captain C g, are you thsure ?” interrupted 

Humbug, in great agitation. 

“ Oh ! quite sure ; don’t you see, it’s as clear as mud in a 
wine-glass.” 

“ Oh, no, no ; I don’th see any thing of the thsort. If 
I only had Mrs. Humbug !” 

“ Oh, d Mrs. Humbug !” was C g’s laconic 

reply ; and seizing a tomahawk from over one of the guns, 
he sprang into one of the weather mizen-chains. 

“ Are you all ready ?” 

“ All ready, sir.” 

Chop, chop, chop, chop, were heard — four strokes — 
when, with a startling crash, the heart-of-pine gave way ; 
the few ropes connecting it with the rest of the rigging 


2 $6 CAVENDISH ; OR, 

were snapped; and the whole mass, yards and all, buried 
itself in the surging sea, while a few splinters only remained 
protruding above the deck. The ship relieved, began to pav 
off to the desired point, and regain a more upright position. 
It was a night of danger and anxiety to us all ; but the next 
day found us at anchor in the harbour of Rio de Janeiro, 
with full liberty for those who were strangers to the sta- 
tion, to gaze at the enormous mountain surnamed the 
Sugar-loaf. 

My first care was to repair on shore, and see my friend. 
Lord Alarmus, of Tou-chou memory ; for as Captain Hum- 
bug remarked, “ he wasth tholding a thsituation of high 
diplomathic thrust at the Court of the Emperor of Brazthill." 
I found him much to my liking ; and his lordship, was, nem . 
con., voted a devilish good fellow. 

As for H.M.S. Welladay, she has to get in a new mizen : 
■ — how, I care not a rotten nutshell, as the Romans say. 
What is such a paltry thing to you or me ? What's 
Hecuba to me, or I to Hecuba?" Many of the most 
amusing things happened here ; which, as I have not room 
to relate, I’ll thank you to imagine. I can only now inform 
you, that the repairs having been completed, we were on the 
point of sailing, when one day the captain made his appear- 
ance on board, in “ full tog," having been engaged in 
some diplomatic service on shore. After communicating 
with the first-lieutenant, he came down to lunch in the 
ward- room, where I happened to be. Hardly had he 
tasted the viands set before him, when we were all startled 
by the cry of “ Fire !" 

“ Eh, what !" cried the captain, starting up aghast, and 
instantaneously relinquishing his knife and fork ; “ fire ! 
fire ! — can ith be thso ? Blessth my thsoul ! — fothfend my 
sthars ! — whath, burnth alive ! — deliver me !" Kicking 
down his chair in his haste to escape, and without casting a 
look at his new gold-laced cocked hat and sword, lying on 
a chair, which wooed him to remain, he fled upon deck, and, 
turning round when he reached the gangway, preparatory to 
running over the side and getting into a boat, exclaimed, 
with lifted hands and most rueful expression, to those stand- 
ing around, “ Now, my men, if any of you have any 
possthible resthpect for your livesth, you’ll follow me ; for, 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 287 

if Mrs. Humbug knew the danger we are in, there’sth do 
thsaving what mighth be the consequenthesth !” 

END OF d’aQUILAR’s NARRATIVE. 


CHAPTER XXXIII. 

When eve is purpling cliff and cave, 

Thoughts of the heart how swift ye flow ! 

Not softer on the western wave 
The golden lines of sunset glow. 

Translation from the German of Breuner. 

Of all the hours in the day, sunset and moonrise seem 
most to possess some magic key, unlocking the pride, the 
folly, love, and grief, pent up within the human breast. If 
a man of feeling is ever virtuous, it is at such a time ; and 
yet such light has shone upon some erring deeds. 

Reader, you know the hour, so soft, so solemn, when 
earth, like a monster of gigantic beauty, sinks to repose 
within the Nubian embrace of night ; well, then, it was not 
this hour, but the one before it, while earth was yet enjoy- 
ing the golden beams of sinking Sol, that found Percy and 
Cleanthe sitting beneath the shade of a dark palm-tree, be- 
fore their villa in the neighbourhood of Nice. More than 
two years had passed over the heads of this erring pair 
since last we parted from them. Did their affection still 
continue ? Mirabile dictu ! it did ; yes, lived in all its for- 
mer strength. And why ? Here is the secret of love. Her’s 
was a temper like the pliant plant, twining itself around a 
hardier stem, until the tree so grooves — bah ! this simile is 
very trite, — well, like soft water freezing in a bottle, and 
then — the whole bursts ! I might have known this — 
that won’t do ; no, I mean to say — that her temper was of 
the gentlest nature, and her heart more yielding still ; that 
Percy was an enthusiast, a sort of half-cracked poet, that 
scarcely knew the bounds either of his hatred or his love. He 
felt how great was the sacrifice she had made for him ; and 
that his present mode of proceeding was most censurable — 
ergo , the devil led him to continue in it. She deemed it even 
worse ; grieved o’er her fallen state, from night to day, and 


288 CAVENDISH ; OR, 

therefore dotea on him more than ever. These were simplv 
the plain facts of the case : I condemn them entirely ; but 
as I wish to lead none of my readers astray, I shall not mix 
up such proceedings with any “ sentimentalibus lachrymce 
roarem,” although themselves discussed the matter with 
great pathos and poetical feeling. If you doubt me, reader, 
hear them. 

“ And will you ever love me, with a devotion as fervent 
as now ?” inquired Clean the, looking up in her lover’s face, 
and flinging her arms round his neck, as if she dreaded even 
the separation of a moment. 

“ My heart’s treasure ! can you doubt me ? What hour, 
day, moment, has my affection flagged, since that which 
first found me breathing vows of truth and passion ? 
Speak ! — none. Is there any earthly happiness for which 
you sigh ? If so, and my means can procure it, utter but 
the wish. You are silent — much do I dread that your in- 
nocent heart is wrung — but, dearest, cease that quivering 
lip, and let me kiss away that glistening tear. I know, I 
see, I feel, all that you have sacrificed for me. Not un- 
marked have I beheld a parent deserted, ties of kindred and 
consanguinity torn away, the opinions of the throng de- 
spised, the upbraidings of conscience stifled, a noble name 
sullied, and, worse than all, your own ideas of virtue vio- 
lated. All this I feel, and have I not been every thing that 
man can be to woman, or woman dream of man ? — tell me 
where I have failed ?” 

“ No where, my Percy, no where ! each and all of those 
feelings have fixed their fangs upon me ; but it is not for 
those I weep ; they pass in comparison as nothing : the 
thought that shakes me deepest is, that you may cease to 
love me. I know what you will say, that I am foolish — I 
am weak — such was human nature ever ; but remember 
how capricious a thing is the human heart. Who knows or 
understands it ? Apathy will often succeed affection ; it 
may be your case ; and though you might grieve over it, 
you might yet be unable to avert the change. Then ask 
your heart if I have not cause to dread ? — As is the frail 
light plank between the mariner and eternity, such is your 
love, Percy, between me and all that is horrid, even m 
thought. Then will you ever continue it to me ?” and she 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


289 

drew herself yet closer to his bosom. “ Alas ! you cannot 
know,” hiding her tearful face upon his neck. 

‘ k Dear, little fluttering heart !” was his reply, “ even 
these, thy passing, fancied sorrows, breathe of ecstasy to me. 
Have not two years passed since you bestowed on me all 
that I sought on earth — yourself ? and is not my affection 
as ardent, as impassioned, as enthusiastic now as then ? 
Is not my attention as unceasing, my anxiety and kindness 
as great ?” 

“ Oh, yes.” 

“ Then why allow a doubt to cross thee, when many 
marriage-ties are broken and disgraced before a quarter of 
that time has tried them ? Yet now, even now, to prove, 
if any proof be wanting — only express your wish, and that 
rite shall be performed, which makes us one — not in the 
sight of God — for in his sight we cannot be more knit than, 
now ; but in accordance with the custom of weak, vain, 
erring man, the first to break the law himself enacts.” 

“ Think not of it, dearest Percy, it is enough for me that 
you like it not ; in future I will call contentment to my 
bosom, to enjoy the flood of happiness now streaming o’er 
us.” 

“ Do so. Clean the, and you shall have change of scene ; 
for even this can wear a sameness. Yes, this which woos 
me to forgetfulness of all save thee, and will ever be dear 
from the halo which the brightness of thy presence has cast 
around it ; here, with the placid sea below, the lustrous 
heaven, the scented orange, and myrtle-flower around, even 
here you can feel the want of change. It shall be yours ; 
we will take to our bark to-morrow, and once more behold 
thy native land of loveliness and song. But chase away 
these pensive thoughts ;” and he handed the lady her 
guitar. 

She, after being asked in a manner so pretty and poetical, 
could do no less than sing, which, let me tell you, she did 
very sweetly. Being, like L. E. L., somewhat of an “ Im- 
provisatrice,” she touched her chords to an Italian air, her 
words flowing in the same melodious language. To what 
were they addressed ? you ask. How, in such a situation, 
could she sing to aught except the setting sun ? 

Having duly commented upon the sadness of her strain, 
u 


290 CAVENDISH ; OR, 

and said, in the words of Scanon, “ a thousand fine things 
to one another/' they retired to sup. I have not seen their 
major-domo lately, and therefore am unable to enumerate 
the courses, or declare of what they were composed, but 
simply wishing them now and henceforward a good diges- 
tion, I shall proceed. 

Another week elapsed, and they had quitted their little 
paradise (how very foolish !) near Nice, to embark on board 
the Calliope, their yacht ; prior to their sailing, our loving 
friends, together with the elder Drinkhardson, who was, of 
course, a little in the wind, set off to view a monastery, not 
far from the town. Here, having entered the chapel, this 
amusing fellow beheld an Italian paying his adoration at a 
shrine, which contained some wood of our Saviour's cross 
(so said the monks). Now Drinkhardson could muster on 
an extremity a few words of Italian, which he generally 
mixed with French and English, as he said, to make them 
last the longer. Tumbling up to the devotee, he commenced: 
“I say, Signor," — the man looked up very angrily ; he con- 
tinued, 4 ‘you credate que cest la veritamente crace?” Shud- 
dering, the Italian crossed himself, and bowed low, as much 
as to say, 4 4 Sacrilegious heretic ! can you doubt it ?” — 
44 Oui ?” asked the other with a shout, lifting up his cane. 
The man nodded. 44 More fool you!" was the reply of 
Drinkhardson, angrily leaving the church. 

It was, of course, very little to him, whether his yacht 
might be bound to the Bay of Naples or the Gulf of Spezzia, 
provided he had a good cellar to make him 44 happy 
whether the airs that blew might be termed a gentle zephyr, 
or a hot monsoon, if such a thing were possible at sea, or, 
indeed, any other wind, provided it were not a southerly 
breeze in the wine-bottle. However, /Eolus was in a good 

temper on the morning of the of . The beautiful 

little schooner-yacht, the Calliope, having arrived in Garden 
Bay, cast anchor opposite to the island of Hydra. 

The vessel was in want of water, and a small party of 
men were sent on shore, to assist in sending the necessary 
supplies from the spring. While thus employed, they were 
surprised by a party of Albanians coming down to the 
shore ; and alleging an act of thievery against one of the 
men who had only that morning arrived, and whom they 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


291 


insisted in carrying off. It was in vain the seamen pro- 
tested against this outrage ; the Greeks were too strong for 
resistance to be effectual, and the prisoner was bound and 
carried away from before their eyes. 

This happened at ten in the forenoon. The transaction 
was immediately made known to Percy, who, selecting 
twenty of his best men, armed them completely, and landed 
with the fixed determination of recovering his man at the 
point of the bayonet ; not more than twelve of the crew, 
the least effective, being left on board. It was with much 
grief that Cleanthe beheld them depart, for the first time, 
without herself ; but blood might happen to be shed, and 
she must remain in safety. Vainly did she cling around his 
neck, and make use of every argument to dissuade him from 
placing himself in danger. His indignation had been 
roused to the utmost, and they set off, leaving Cleanthe 
gazing with grief at the widening space of sea that grew be- 
tween them. 

At the instant of his arrival on shore, the report of a gun 
was heard from a small fort in the island of Hydra. This 
attracted no notice ; it might have been accident which de- 
termined the one taking place immediately after the other ; 
but within a quarter of an hour a Greek brig- of- war rounded 
the point of the island, and ran for the anchorage of the Cal- 
liope, whose men assembled on deck to witness in what 
style the vessel would bring-to. Her guns appeared per- 
fectly ready for service ; and, what was more extraordinary, 
univeral silence prevailed upon her decks. One tall figure, 
disguised from face to foot, stood at the helm, and steered 
direct for the Calliope’s bow. While the brig was a mile 
distant, this occasioned no remark ; but when she ap- 
proached within three hundred yards, they became alarmed 
at the danger of being run down ; and the Greek pilot 
hailed the stranger to take a wider berth. 

Some unintelligible answer was made, and the brig’s 
course altered ; but lo ! instead of being in the desired di- 
rection, it was in a straight line towards the Calliope’s 
beam. “ You fool, you have made a mistake !” roared the 
Greek pilot. No reply was made, and in two minutes, be- 
fore any steps could be taken to prevent it, the Greek man- 
of-war was alongside, the muzzles of her guns brushing the 
u 2 


292 CAVENDISH ; OR, 

bulwarks of the yacht, while two men, hitherto concealed by 
the sails, appeared on the fore and main yards, casting their 
graplings in the rigging of the schooner. The tall figure 
dashing aside his cloak, while crape concealed his face, dis- 
played an Albanian chief. Waving his yataghan above his 
head, he sprang on the deck of the Calliope, followed by 
fifty of his men fully armed. 

All was bustle and confusion. It was blowing a stiff 
breeze, and the impetus of the brig was such that the com- 
munication of its force to the yacht carried away the chain- 
cable by which she was riding, while the graplings tore in 
every direction, both spars and rigging ; it was one univer- 
sal crash ; some fled, some remained. The Greek chief 
darting towards the spot where the affrighted Cleanthe 
stood, seized her in his arms, as she was about to descend 
below, and gave her in charge to six of his men, who bore 
their fair prisoner shrieking to their vessel. On seeing 
this, the English sailors attempted to make some resistance 
with whatever fell in their way, but were cut down in every 
direction. Five of the Greeks surrounding the main- mast, 
and placing the muzzles of their carbines against it, slanting 
upwards, fired their bullets into its body, seeming to expect 
its fall. But, true pine, it stood the test, severe as it was ; 
the same manoeuvre was tried against the foremast with the 
same success. Their object was now apparently accom- 
plished. The boarders rapidly retreated to their own 
decks, the grapplings were cut away, and in less than eight 
minutes from her first attack, this simoon of a pirate had 
left the Calliope to her fate, and was making all sail before 
the wind towards the Gulf of Spezzia, while her rifled vic- 
tim, in her present helpless state, was glad to let go an 
anchor to prevent her drifting ashore. 

Meanwhile, Captain Percy had gained the village, where 
the aggressors were supposed to reside, being barely half an 
hour’s walk from the shore, and found his man locked up 
in an old building; nothing had been even said to him, and 
the aggressors had departed. To release him was the work 
of a minute, and enraged that the offenders had escaped, he 
turned to retrace his steps on board, previously taking a 
glance at the little bark which contained the gem of his 
heart, when he beheld the rencontre above described. 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


293 

In an instant all beside was forgotten, and giving the word 
to his men, they increased their speed to the utmost : Percy 
scarcely daring to acknowledge the suspicions which forced 
themselves upon him. 

No time was lost in getting on board — his worst fears 
were true. With a state of mind bordering on frenzy, he 
gave orders for chase — pursuit was all that he would hear of. 
Capstan-bars were lashed around the wounded masts, while 
others were used as props. Every expedient that ingenuity 
could think of, was put in practice to counterbalance the ef- 
fects of her crippled state. The anchor having been hastily 
left with a buoy over it, after slipping her cable, the guns 
were shotted, the decks cleared for action, and every possible 
fibre of canvass spread in pursuit ; unheeded were the com- 
plaining of yards, masts, master or men ; away they flew. 

The increasing breeze, the approaching night, the forth- 
coming storm, all were as nothing. The alternative was 
death, or repossession of Cleanthe ; how then could Percy 
regard a smaller obstacle ? The dim faint outline of the 
chase on the horizon, held his more than soul, and urged 
him forward to her rescue, or his own destruction. 

As her men used to say of her, the Calliope had a bright 
copper funnel,* and sailed like a witch ; her favourite point 
of sailing was before the wind, and she now appeared to be 
one huge blaze of studding-sails, gleaming in relief against 
the dark and tempest-lowering heavens. “ Heave the log,” 
cried Percy ; “ what is she going ?” — “ Thirteen miles an 
hour,” said the log-line; “fifteen,” reported the master ; and, 
fast as Greek vessels sail, she gained rapidly upon the chase. 

Soon the latter rounded the island of Spezzia, fired a gun, 
and was lost to sight. In a quarter of an hour the Calliope 
also rounded the island, and the first thing that they beheld 
was the same wide press of sail they had been pursuing, 
almost close at hand. “ Hurrah ! my men, now we have 
her 1” cried Percy, springing from the hammock-netting 
where he had been sitting, straining his vision to catch a 
glance once more at the flying vessel. “ Trim your guns 
forward, and as they bear, after the word is given to fire, 
pour in your broadside — and yet,” he hesitated — his step 
faltered, his firm lip relaxed, the agonising thought of Cle- 
A naval phrase. 


294 CAVENDISH ; OR, 

an the falling by his fire, came across him. Staggering to 
the capstan, he bent his brow upon his hand, his looks wan- 
dered towards the heavens, conscience whispered that they 
scowled upon him ; his lips moved, but not in prayer. Could 
he ask success for an enterprise, whose object led to crime ? 
Perhaps remorse at that hour triumphed over all. Did he 
resolve to retrieve his folly ? perhaps it was too late. “ See, 
sir, how she's yawing," said the helmsman, arousing him 
from his reverie. “ They'm showing a white feather aboard 
there, sir, or my name's not Tom Tempest." 

Percy looked up, and as he beheld her head veering first 
in one direction, and then in another, a hope stole over his 
heart that they might indeed be frightened, and of the pos- 
sibility of recovering his lost treasure by boarding without 
any risk to herself. “ And yet when I consider the disparity 
of numbers, and the loss of life — away ! what is the bauble 
of life to me, deprived of her ? Hold your fire, my men ! 
out with your cutlasses !" 

The words had scarcely passed his lips, when a flash lit 
up the canopy of heaven, a stream of fire shot upwards from 
the chase, interspersed with a few indistinct black figures, a 
concussion that for the moment stilled the swelling gale, and 
shook the advancing foe, together with a report, confusing 
the senses that heard it, announced to the dismayed pursu- 
ers that the chase, in despair, had blown herself up ! 

“ 'Tis possible she may yet exist !" were the only words 
which fell from Percy, as, seizing the helm, he steered towards 
the fiercely-burning fragments. His whole feelings and 
perceptions were so palsied, so deadened beneath the stupor 
of despair, that all recollection of his vessel, and the care 
she required in handling, had forsaken him. Inconsiderately, 
therefore, he rounded to the wind, when the fore-mast, un- 
able to bear this pressure in a fresh direction, yielded to the 
blast, and with all its canvass fell over the lee-bow ; and the 
gale now acting on her after-sail, brought her still nearer to 
the wind. This, added to the drag of the gear, connecting 
pne mast to the other, proved more than the wounded spar 
could support. With an awful crash it joined its fellow 
floating on the wave, and the Calliope rolled a dismasted 
wreck, a ready prey for the engulphing storm. 

With the most frenzied cries, Percy, overcome with all 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 295 

that can annihilate the reason, sank on the deck, regardless 
of the death he now perceived awaiting him. 


CHAPTER XXXIV. 

Far heaving o’er the distant main, 

Where heaven and earth unite again, 

One distant speck of white is seen, 

Appearing like the jewel’d sheen 
Of Heaven’s own gems, when first they rise 
From Ocean’s bed to deck the skies. 

“ Sail, ahoy was the cry from the foretop mast-head 
of H. M. S. Talthorpe, on the morning of — what promised 
to be — a fine day. The signal midshipman, having turned 
his glass, beheld what the poet had attempted to describe 
in the above quoted lines : — but however exquisite the 
sight, how inferior in beauty to the rising star, seen through 
the dim encircling haze of night, a blaze of beauty, like a 
burning wreck on the horizon, shedding its light upon the 
bounding billow. Often in the still dark night, when 
forced to pace my weary watch, have I gazed on such a 
sight, and quite forgotten all my wish to sleep. These are 
the pure, unspotted moments of our lives, as yet too young 
for Calumny to breathe our name, or Anguish wring our 
heart — for Poverty to bare its barb, or seared affections to 
wither in their spring. — So deems the world ! alas, it little 
knows ! Happiness consists not in age, or rank, or station. 
Wealth has her heirs, and Greatness her first-born : but 
Misery has her offspring too ; beings marked out as her 
own, from the very moment life has set her seal upon them. 
Who does not sorrowfully recall the bygone innocence of 
childhood ? Who can mix with the world, and not imbibe 
some portion of its heartlessness, to dim the better feelings 
of his heart?' We must do this in self-defence, or be the 
dupe of artful thousands. And can such a state of imper- 
fection have been intended to be final. 

Take my glass, reader, and look through it. You behold 
a noble ship indeed, and there be noble hearts on board, 
which answer back the thrilling call of Glory — Honour- 
Fame. the sailons three immortal houris, that lure him o'er 


296 CAVENDISH ; OR, 

the “ vengeful deep.” Poor fellows, and brave hearts ! — it 
is your lot now to be trampled on, and half-despised, by the 
rulers of that nation, whose mightiest, — nay, whose almost 
sole prop you are. 

To turn — and to return ; — the devil take it! 

This story slips for ever through my fingers. 

The ship which you behold, reader, through my glass, is 
H. M. S. Asia. At her fore-top-gallant-masthead a square 
blue flag is flying, being that of Sir E. Codrington, vice- 
ndmiral of the blue. 

Having exchanged the salutes usual in such cases, and 
displayed our pretensions to being one of the smartest ships 
on the station, we followed the Asia's movements. The 
weather proved very misty, and a stiff breeze set in, just 
from the very point whence it should not ; and as we toiled 
up the gulph of Napoli di Romania,* we had no resource 
but to beat (tack). In the evening, a sort of nondescript 
weather finally prevailed, when to use the words of an old 
Irish mate, “ the wind was knocking in heaps about the 
deck.” Every five minutes we were obliged to trim sails to 
some light air from a fresh quarter. 

“ Why, master,” said the officer of marines, “ the wind 
seems to be blowing from two or three points of the com- 
pass at once. A man might be many years at sea, and not 
meet with such a case as this.” 

“ Oh !” said ‘ Little Ben,' “ that's a trifle. When I was 
on the coast of Ireland, in H. M. S. Nonesuch, ninety-nine 
decks and no bottom, after a long calm, there sprung up 
one day, about three bells in the forenoon watch, a breeze 
from all the thirty-two points of the compass. You may 
wonder ; but they did : ay, and met every man Jack of 'em 
on board of us in a focus, as it may be ; when, behold ! the 
concatenation was so great, that by all rushing together, 
they made one stream fair upwards towards heaven. Very 
natural, ye see — couldn’t tend downwards because of the 
ship. Well, as I said before, they made a wind slap up and 
down, filled the bellies of the sails, and lifted us quite out of 
the water. The captain, he thought we were going up to 
heaven ; and wishing to enter the harbour with all respecst 
to the port- admiral, he piped the ship’s company to prayers ; 

* The Greek President, Capo D’lstrias, was murdered here. 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


29 ? 

but ’tisn’t so alsy to get up there as some folks imagine. 
The skipper was wrong ; the winds from the southward 
being a leetel the strongest, it gave the rest a sort of start, 
ye see, so that they lifted us quite high and dry — all save 
the end of our rudder, which remained in, just enough to 
steer by, and away we went seventeen miles an hour through 
the water, current running sixteen same direction, that’s 
thirty- three miles an hour over the land at the bottom.” 

“ Why, Mr. Cantall !” exclaimed every one in astonish- 
ment, “ you don’t mean to affirm that as a fact ?” 

“ Fact ! ay, swear to it — boy, where’s my bible ?” turn^ 
ing to his servant, who was behind. 

“ You tore it up the other day, sir, to make paper 
cigars.” 

“ Psha ! you little fool,” interrupted the master in an 
under voice ; “ don’t be blabbing about that. Why don’t 
ye say it’s down at the bottom of my chest ? Can’t get at 
it ; say the chest is at the bottom of the hold.” 

“ But, sir, your chest is in your cabin.” 

“ Poh ! you little ass, I know that very well ; but I tell 
you that the master, master’s boy, and ropemaker, are al- 
lowed to tell lies whenever they like.” 

Having anchored off the town of Napoli di Romania, a 
boat was sent on board the Asia, which returned with sundry 
packages of newspapers, letters, and other things; and 
while I open my dispatch, do you walk down into the mid’s 
berth, where you will find the young officer who has arrived 
on board from the Asia, on duty. Having placed the wine 
before him, behold the others crowding round and devouring 
him with questions. 

“ Who have you on board? any old Mediterranean stagers 
— any of the old Niobe’s ?” 

“ Yes — Bigot and Pinchit.” 

“ Ah, Pinchit is here, is he ? How does his Lordship 
get on ?” 

“ Oh, much better since his rope’s ending.” 

“ What do you mean ?” 

“Not much ; save that his Lordship has turned out a 
spirit, of all things odd in this world. 

“A spirit!” re-echoed Thread and Lackit in surprise; 
“ where in the name of Heaven did he get that ?” 


298 CAVENDISH ; OR, 

“ In Pall Mall, I suppose.” 

“Yes, I should think if he had any, it would be un esprit 
du mal ; but tell us what he has been about.” 

•* The thing is this. The lords and commons in the gun- 
room of H. M. S. Asia cannot agree very well. Lord 

and Pinchit, being the only two titled gentlemen in 

the mess, are sworn friends. Now Lord would be 

a very good fellow were it not for the other, because Lord 

has not a sufficiency of brains to be very rebellious ; 

the other has enough of the devil in him to rebel, but not 
enough of the Buonaparte to make it successful. As I said 
before, he has had an especial battle with the assistant-sur- 
geon, in which the hide of one, the spectacles of the other, 
suffered. Both the nobles have been hauled over the coals ; 
and there is a rumour, to-day, among the democrats, that 
Pinchit is to be sent into the Talthorpe to learn good man- 
ners, and a more pacific disposition.” 

“ What sort of a ship have you ?” 

“ There could not be a better ; and she promises soon to 
be in high order ” 

“ Asia’s midshipmen below ?” 

“ Ay, ay, sir,” and away went our newsmonger. 

And now, reader, let me pause and tell thee, that Judas 
Iscariot is promoted to the rank of commander, and that 
Straw is now first-lieutenant ; Willstand consequently is 
second, and a Mr. Brown, lately promoted from the Asia, is 
third. If you should chance to meet him in these pages, 
accost him as a clever and gentlemanly man, and in that 
spirit, depend on it, he will make answer to you. John Roy, 
the kind-hearted, is, I am happy to say, after a long and 
meritorious service, promoted to a lieutenantcy ; the mess 
has lost one of its most amusing and brightest ornaments, 
but the service has gained a skilful, brave, undaunted officer. 
As a poor return for which loss, we have been joined by 
Baron Baggs, Lord Pinchit, &c. &c., who, though sighing 
for the ease and comfort of the big ship, and the society of 
his fellow noble, was compelled to submit to the wholesome, 
moral regimen of Captain F. Sawyer. I did not find much 
change in him, if I except a little more self-importance, and 
a somewhat stronger aristocratic tendency of feeling. 

Having lost his former friends, it was incumbent on him 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 299 

*o form new ones ; he therefore gathered round him those 
of his own age and warlike propensities. 


CHAPTER XXXV. 

And after much inkshed and wineshed, which very nearly ended in 
bloodshed, they wanted to make me their umpire. 

Note to Childe Harold. 

It was in the month of July that a treaty was entered 
into and signed at London, for terminating the Turkish 
atrocities in Greece. I shall not pretend to a knowledge of 
all its provisions. The only provision I care to uphold here 
is, that instructions, emanating from this treaty, were for- 
warded to Sir Edward Codrington, Commander-in-chief of 
the allied squadrons of England, France, and Russia, in 
the Mediterranean, to intercept all supplies of men, arms, 
or munitions of war, coming from Africa, and destined 
against Greece or the Archipelago. On falling in with 
any such supplies, he was either to turn them back to Alex- 
andria or the Dardanelles. No other alternative was to be 
allowed them. Now mark this well. I need not say to the 
reader, who knows their customs, disposition, and religion, 
that the Turks have ever been a most obstinate people, and, 
beyond all other, tenacious and jealous of any foreign inter- 
ference. The Greeks had at this time admitted the prin- 
ciple of foreign interference : the Turks had not and 
would not . Is it, then, even within the bounds of pro- 
bability, that they should accede to Sir Edward’s de- 
mand, and quietly return with a strong force to Alex- 
andria, or harmlessly proceed to the Dardanelles, when 
the Sultan had been avowedly at all this expense and 
trouble to invade Greece ? No man who can think will 
venture to say so. And, in case of their refusal, what must 
have been the result ? Every one knows what it must have 
been. The British admiral’s orders were peremptory. 
Had the Commander-in-chief met that fleet, and had they 
refused to obey him, he must, and he would have engaged 
them. But (here we have an instance of the tardy councils 
of the English, which gave Napoleon such an advantage 


300 


CAVENDISH ; OR, 


over us) these instructions never reached our admiral till 
too late ; for on his receiving them, he immediately posted 
off to Hydra, against which island the expedition was re- 
ported to have been destined, sending orders to the rest of 
his squadron to join him. 

On the second evening after his arrival, he learnt from a 
Greek brig, commanded bv an English officer, that the 
Turks had sailed, and were seen steering for Navarin. On 
this, Sir Edward Codrington immediately made sail, and when 
he arrived off the port, found his friends of the turban se- 
curely anchored within. It was on an evening in Septem- 
ber that we joined the squadron, principally consisting of 
French vessels — four line of battle ships, and I believe three 
frigates. A squadron had ventured out from Navarin, and 
interposed themselves between Sir Edward, who was run- 
ning to us, and the larger part of the squadron. Having 
beat to quarters, he kept his course through the middlo of 
them, and sent the gentry back. From this time, (about 
the 20th of September,) we never ceased to blockade the 
port, while the English squadron continued to increase, 
being joined by the Albion, Genoa, and some frigates ; but 
the weather, even at this season of the year, was most vio- 
lent, and threatened, as the season advanced, to render the 
blockade impracticable. Accordingly, we, as may be sup- 
posed, heartily tired of hard work and salt junk, wished the 
Mussulmans at the devil, and that we had a commission to 
send them there. However, as mids must have some mis- 
chief brewing to keep themselves amused, let us leave the 
combined fleet, and turn once more to the middies* mess of 
H. M. S. Talthorpe. 

I really know not how Pinchit had become so great a 
hero ; but, certes, at this time he was touched not only with 
a warlike, but a truly heroic, quarrelsome propensity, inter- 
mingled with strong fits of squalling, an itch for greatness, 
and the remains of his Asiatic revolutionary mania. Much 
did he miss his brother noble, that immortal wit and pro- 
found scholar. Lord . It was odd how two such bright 

leaders should have failed, — but all that’s bright must fade, 
— and thus between the reprobation of admiral commanding, 
and surgeon assisting, Baron Baggs was at last subdued, 
though little inferior in fierceness to Ibrahim Pacha him- 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


301 

self. Still restless, notwithstanding that he was now among 
the “ gentlemanly Talthorpes,” he lost no opportunity of 
declaiming in, and agitating the House of Commons, where 
he held a seat for the rotten borough of “ Mess-money,” 
until the Tory or Twyndle ministry declared their firm in- 
tention of putting down such a factious opposition, and of 
course — resigned the next day. 

Here was a chance ! “All my oratory,” said Pinchit. 

“ So much for being a good-looking fellow,” said Jen- 
nings. 

“ You may thank my foreign negociations for this,” was 
Neville’s remark ; and in they came. 

His Lordship was too modest openly to take the Premier- 
ship ; he therefore gave that up to Jennings ; but as the 
latter did not possess the organ of numbers, Pinchit took 
office as Chancellor of the Exchequer and Secretary of 
State for the Home Department ; while Neville, having con- 
siderable knowledge of what is termed sea law, obtained the 
seal of Lord High Chancellor. In less statesman-like 
phrase, he was the wine-caterer, whose office it is to pro- 
vide the mess with drinkables. Mirabile dictu! the ex- 
ministers were too dignified in their anger even to raise an 
opposition. All the members seemed satisfied ; and, with 
the modesty native to themselves, and all the hesitation 
natural to maiden rulers, the new ministry changed benches. 

No one can say that it was not a highly-talented admini- 
stration. The premier was a good-natured, hair-brained 
rattle, very extravagant — age eighteen. The Lord Chan- 
cellor, keeper of the king’s conscience (that’s his bottle), — 
age not fifteen. — While the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
and Home Secretary was as fiery-headed as a turkey — age 
sixteen. Such was the Whig Cabinet, thorough out-and- 
out liberals, while the former one, composed of men aged 
from six- and- twenty to thirty, submitted to the fresh ar- 
rangements of these boys, and retired without a division. 
“ Highly generous, eh ! my lord !” 

I have often thought that there was some analogy between 
the state of the berth, at that time, and the position of Bel- 
gium since. A weak and infant state ; while the powerful 
neighbouring nation — the gun-room officers, at whose head 
was Straw — broke through the principle of non-interference, 


302 


CAVENDISH J OR, 

and refused to recognise the Whig party now in power, de- 
claring that if they retained their places, he would cut off 
all supplies from the shore. Here was a fall ! A cabinet 
council w T as instantly held, when they agreed it was far bet- 
ter indignantly to fling up the insignia of office, than to wait 
till they were wrung from them, inasmuch as the nation, or 
the mess, would never consent to starve, either to keep in 
Whigs or Tories, and forthwith they issued the following 
protest : — 

“Highly flattered as H. M/s Government of the Mid- 
land counties must feel at the way in which they have 
been elected to the high situation they now hold, they 
deem it an imperative duty to announce that a most unjust 
and unwarrantable influence having been exercised to annul 
the free election of the people, H. M/s Government cannot 
consent any longer to discharge the important functions 
lately imposed upon them. At the same time they are by no 
means ignorant that it is in their power to abide the result 
of a war ; but with the patriotic feeling, that it has ever 
been their boast to maintain, they prefer thus to resign the 
respective offices which their merit gained, and their talents 
supported/' 

No sooner had this appeared upon 'change than stocks 
fell ; ministers had lost their places, widows their pensions, 
and fundholders their “ fat," as Byron says, while consols 
were quoted monstrously low. On the next day, with some 
slight alterations (as is usually the case), in came those 
abominable old place-stickers, the “ Tories and the Whigs 
sullenly resumed their old station, with most determined 
looks of opposition. Meanwhile, Green, who should by 
heritage have been their leader, sided with neither party, or, 
if with anv, it was with the Tories ; for hating Pinchit cor- 
dially, and liking Twvndle, as did every one else, he of 
course inclined to the latter. 


CHAPTER XXXVI. 

“ Ranged in a grisly row and bearded like a pard.” Kent’s Travel^ 

Having continued to blockade the port in this way, until 
we thought ourselves doomed to undergo a second affair of 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


303 

Too-long, it was at last agreed between the two commanders. 
Vice-admiral Codrington and Rear-admiral de Rigny, to 
have a conference with Ibrahim Pacha, and, by engaging in 
an armistice, open the way to their peaceable return. Every 
one of course was most anxious to behold this old Turk ; 
numerous were the endeavours made to be included in the 
party, and as numerous, I dare say, were the disappoint- 
ments, since it was only a few chosen individuals that could 
be permitted to go. Among this number I contrived to get 
myself included. 

The Asia having gone in on the 24th of September, and 
anchored off Navarin, on the ensuing morning we landed. 
Our party consisted of seven. Vice-admiral Sir E. Codring- 
ton, the Honourable Captain Curzon, flag captain ; Mr. 
Dyer, secretary, ; Mr. Dilke, flag lieutenant ; the Honour- 
able Colonel Cradock, Mr. H. Codrington, and myself. On 
the beach we met Admiral de Rigny and several of his of- 
ficers, and we proceeded together to the tent of Ibrahim. 
On arriving here. Sir Edward was told that he must not 
take in the interpreter who accompanied us, (a gentleman 
from Malta, purposely brought by Sir Edward, lest Ibrahim's 
interpreter should be afraid to give the whole strength of 
what was said) as that would give offence to Ibrahim : he 
was therefore left outside, and we entered. 

The whole of the Turkish and Egyptian chiefs were ranged 
on one side of the tent, Tahir Pacha alone being absent, 
on account of ill-health. His highness (as far as I could 
judge of a man sitting on his hams) was of middle stature, 
with a very sharp expression of face, and two twinkling black 
eyes, that would look sufficiently awful in a rage. He had 
the usual quantity of human vegetation about his countenance, 
and seemed, as Peter Pindar says, “ as solemn as a mustard- 
pot." 

The usual ceremonies of introduction having been gone 
through, we were all motioned to take seats on the side of 
the tent opposite to the Turks, and through the means of a 
Mr. Abro, the Pacha’s interpreter. Sir Edward opened the 
conference in English, by informing him, that in pursuance 
of a treaty signed by the English, French, and Russians, it 
became the duty of himself and his allies, to intercept all 
supplies of men, arms, &c., destined for Greece, and coming 


304 cavendish ; or, 

from Africa and Turkey in general ; and in order to prove 
to him the frankness with which they were desirous to ne- 
gotiate, the admirals read extracts from their instructions to 
that effect. 

On hearing this, Ibrahim’s countenance seemed to rise a 
little from its state of usual apathy. His eyes sparkled, and 
some slight expression of defiance might have been ob- 
served, as he replied, that “ he was like themselves a 
soldier, and that to obey his instructions was as great a 
virtue in him as it was in them. That his orders were to 
attack the island of Hydra, which he must do. His part 
was to act, and not to talk ; for any negociations he referred 
them to the Grand Signor.” To this the Admiral replied, 
that they could enter into all the feelings of a brave man on 
the subject, and they congratulated him that the force op- 
posed was resistless, giving thereby an honourable ground 
on which to act ; but that if he persisted in putting to sea 
in defiance of this friendly warning, they must adhere to 
their orders of intercepting him, when, if he opposed them 
by force, his destruction would ensue — an act of madness 
which the Sultan could not applaud. Had they viewed this 
affair solely as military men, his obstinacy would have af- 
forded them the means of distinction in their profession ; 
but with the feelings now existing between the allies and the 
Turks, any compromise of such feelings would be deeply de- 
plored. It was the sincere wish of the three governments to 
avoid every path that might lead to a rupture. It was with 
this view they had come to open his eyes, and by this de- 
claration before his chiefs to put aside all doubt of the actual 
instructions of the combined fleet, and to dispel any distrust 
which his officers might entertain with regard to the com- 
munications between Ibrahim and themselves. 

To all this Ibrahim replied, that he felt the due weight of 
what had been advanced. It was true, that when he had 
received his orders from the Porte, the actual state of 
affairs, and the risk of collision with the Allied Powers, had 
not been foreseen. He would, therefore, take upon himself 
to suspend all operations of sea and land forces constituting 
the Alexandrian expedition, until he received the answers to 
some dispatches which he would immediately send to Alex- 
andria and Constantinople; meanwhile, the expedition 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


305 

should be stationary at Navarin. He then asked permis- 
sion to send two dispatch- vessels, one to Alexandria, and 
the other to Previsa, which was immediately granted ; the 
Admirals even offered to insure their safety by an escort, 
but this was refused, as compromising the dignity of the 
Turkish flag. The Admirals then said that his promise 
satisfied them, and that they trusted to his word of honour, 
as they expected he would to theirs. 

Ibrahim, placing his hand on his heart, and bowing very 
slightly, said that it was sacred ; then added, “Although 
I have promised this, I cannot think it just that I should be 
thus bound, while the Greeks are at liberty to prosecute 
their hostilities.' * 

To this the Admirals answered, that it was not a parallel 
case. The Greeks had accepted the mediation of the Allies 
— the Turks had not; and to prove the fairness with 
which he (Sir Edward Codrington) would act, he would, in 
consequence of some information of Lord Cochrane's inten- 
tion to excite an insurrection beyond the actual theatre of 
the war, himself put a stop to his proceedings. 

Something more was here said, and Ibrahim showed 
some desire to talk upon subjects not connected with the 
treaty. This Sir Edward avoided as likely to create con- 
fusion, and said, “ I wish to understand, before the confer- 
ence ends, whether his Highness comprehends all that has 
been communicated by me and Admiral de Rigny ?" To 
this Ibrahim replied, “ Yes, fully." In conclusion. Sir 
Edward demanded whether the verbal agreement before the 
officers of both sides now present, would be held as sacred 
as if taken down in writing, and signed after our manner. 
The interpreter said, such a question would insult the 
Pacha; but Sir Edward was decisive. “ You may tell the 
Pacha that I have no intention of insulting him ; but my 
own security requires that the question should be put;" 
which was done in as delicate a manner as possible — when 
Ibrahim, in a somewhat sullen tone, retorted, “Yes, cer- 
tainly." Nothing more of any consequence now passed, 
and we returned on board. 

The next morning, being the 26th, the Pacha's inter- 
preter, Mr. Abro, came on board the Asia, and informed 
Sir Edward that since the conference, Ibrahim had received 

x 


306 CAVENDISH ; OR, 

intelligence of Lord Cochrane having made a descent upon 
Patras — that Ibrahim's first impulse was to cut his cable, 
break the armistice, and sail in the night. Since that, he 
had fortunately thought better of it, and he now sent his 
interpreter to request that he might send a squadron from 
his fleet to Patras. Admiral de Rigny was in the Asia's 
cabin at the time, and both he and Sir Edward peremptorily 
refused the request, when it was arranged, that if Ibrahim 
still insisted on his right of reinforcing Patras, Mr. Abro 
should return on board and signify the same : if, on the 
contrary, the Pacha acquiesced in the prohibition of the 
Admirals, as agreed on at the armistice, no further commu- 
nication would be necessary. Accordingly, having waited 
in vain several hours over the time at which he was to 
return, and night having arrived, „he Asia and Sirene* put 
to sea, of course with the impression that the armistice was 
held to exist, as specified, for twenty- one days. 

On the ensuing day, as the blockading squadron was 
necessarily in want of provisions and refitting, they all dis- 
persed — H. M. S. Talthorpe proceeding to Zante, to take 
in water and other requisites. 

We arrived early in the morning, and carried on the 
necessary duty with all dispatch. The evening set in with 
an increase of wind, accompanied by a misty rain. At half- 
past five, a vessel was observed in the ofiing, with all 
possible sail set, firing minute guns, with the signal flying 
at her mast-head, of “ Enemy at sea." This put an end 
to our watering; boats were instantly dispatched for the 
officers on shore, and in half-an-hour we were standing out 
to sea, with the Dartmouth, Asia, and Zebra ; the former 
having been the vessel that brought the news, the second 
having arrived shortly after ourselves, and the Zebra being 
in the harbour of Zante when we arrived. 

As yet, we did not exactly comprehend what was the mat- 
ter ; but I recollect waking at eleven o’clock, (an unusual 
thing for one who had the morning watch to keep,) and look- 
ing towards the berth, I distinguished, by the dim light of 
a lantern on the table, the portly figure of old Guy, the Ad- 
miralty clerk, performing the honours to a bottle of London 
porter, into the cork of which he was inserting the screw ; 

* Admiral de Rigny ’s ship, which had come in also. 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 307 

at his side was Twvndle, holding on the two tumblers lest 
they should roll off the table. 

" Hey there, you gemmen of the Nodes Stoutiance ! what 
news from the deck ? ” 

“ News ! why we shall be engaged. in the course of ten 
minutes/ * 

“ What, with the porter bottle, I presume ? Come, hand 
me a glass, and allow me to slumber/* 

“ All hands to quarters/* was the pipe. 

“ Oh, dear ! what a plaguy thing glory is . — come, turn 
out there, youngsters. Quarters ! quarters ! jump on deck 
there !*’ 

On arriving on deck, we were in the midst of the Turkish 
squadron : so much for Turkish honour ! Notwithstanding 
that Ibrahim’s request had been most decidedly refused — 
notwithstanding the warning of impending destruction — in 
open breach of his sacred word, in defiance of the combined 
squadron, the Pacha had detached this division of his fleet 
and ordered them off to Patras ; nay more, he himself was 
strongly believed to be on board a large double-banked fri- 
gate. On our beam, within a quarter of a mile, was sailing, 
if not this very ship, at least one of her class, and a beauti- 
ful vessel she was. I think that her crew must have been 
at quarters, for her main deck was brilliantly lighted up, 
each port was open, and, as the light came shining through, 
she presented the fairest mark possible, while our own, 
though equally lighted, had every port and aperture so 
closed, that I doubt whether she even observed us. 

Having seen that every thing was in readiness for action, 
the men were sent below to their hammocks. At five the 
next morning we were again summoned to our posts, by beat 
of drum, and the scene that presented itself on deck was 
the finest and most imposing that I ever beheld. 

The sun had risen in the purest splendour ; not one ray 
was shorn. The bright, clear sea, speaking freshness to 
the heart, was just ruffled by a gentle breeze. At a short 
distance beneath our lee — hove to — reflecting from her 
chequered, bristling side the fresh-born beams of morning, 
with her taunt masts and superb hull — seeming an ocean 
beauty — lay the Asia, like a lion reposing in all the majesty 
of conscious power. Ahead of us, we beheld the Dartmouth 
x 2 


308 CAVENDISH ; OR, 

and Zebra ; beyond them, at some little distance, arose the 
masts of the Turkish squadron. 

We had now obeyed the Asia’s signal, and were within 
hail. Having laid the main-topsail to the mast, we observed 
the Admiral mount the' bulwark of the poop, and holding 
the mizen-top-mast back-stay in his hand, he proceeded to 
hail us. 

“ Captain Sawyer !” 

“ Sir.” 

“You will make sail — and, proceeding to the Turkish 
squadron, tell them from me, that should they not imme- 
diately return to the port of Navarin, I will sink them — if I 
am able.” 

The words were few — the sentence of life or death to so 
many thousands has seldom been couched in less. While 
this was uttered, not a sound was heard ; intuitively all at- 
tention was absorbed ; our fiat of life most probably hung 
upon the words which that individual was uttering ; and 
the daring order he had just delivered, acquired more influ- 
ence over the heart, from the grandeur that circumstances 
flung around it. Of a tall commanding figure, — the glit- 
tering hair playing In the passing breeze, and touched with 
the golden light of dawn — the right arm extended to point 
with the uniform cap to the squadron in the distance — his 
whole air bespoke the firmest determination in his purpose. 


CHAPTER XXXVII. 

■ Triumphant sons of truest blue, 

While either Adriatic shore 

And fallen chiefs and fleets no more, 

And nightly smiles and daily dinners, 

Proclaim ye war’s and women’s winners. Byron. 

“ Make sail,” was Captain Sawyer’s order, turning to the 
quarter-deck. “Way, aloft there — shake out first and 

second reefs stand by to ’set top-gallant sails . 

Fore and main top- mast studding sails haul on hoard 

the fore tack,” &c., with many other orders equally nauti- 
cal and uninteresting. “ Run away with her, my boys !” 

“ Hurrah !” was the half- suppressed shout of the seamen. 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


309 

as they tore the clue of the foresail down to its place with a 
force that made the mast and yards shake again ; capering 
along with the wildest glee, at the idea of being selected to 
deliver such a message, though a larger frigate was in com- 
pany. In a few minutes we were bearing down on the 
enemy under a heavy press of sail, and ready to prove, if 
necessary, that our gunnery was as excellent in earnest as in 
practice. 

The Turkish squadron consisted of six enormous frigates, 
carrying from fifty to sixty guns each, several of which were 
double-banked ;* many corvettes, fire-brigs, and sloops of 
war, with other vessels, amounting together, I believe, to 
forty sail ; to sink which force we had only the Asia, Dart- 
mouth, Talthorpe, and Zebra. 

Shortening sail on the weather-bow of the commodore's 
ship, which appeared to be one of the largest, at a distance 
of two hundred yards, the Greek pilot delivered Sir Ed- 
ward’s message. The Turks replied, by stating their only 
object to be the relief of Patras. “ It is immaterial,” re- 
turned the pilot, “ where you may be going ; you have 
broken the articles of the armistice by leaving Navarin, and 
thither you must return immediately.” 

Here you might observe the captain of one of the guns 
stealing a look at the captain’s face ; then seeing he was 
not noticed, coaxing his piece so as to bring its bearing 
more direct for the enemy’s midship. Something further 
passed, when the Turkish pilot asked, “ Will you send a 
boat on board ? — you need not be afraid.” — “ Oh ! thank 
you,” the Greek replied, “ we left fear at home ;t but you 
can send a boat to us !” — which they did. The thing was 
then explained to them, and they departed, subsequently 
sending a boat to the English admiral, who remained aloof, 
at a distance of two miles, in order that they might not feel 
themselves obliged in honour to come to hostilities. 

The boat which went to the Asia contained Reala Bey. 
the second in command. On seeing him. Sir Edward de- 
manded whether he was not present in Ibrahim’s tent with 

* “ Double-banked,” having guns on the gangway so as to complete 
two tiers. 

f This was actually said by a pilot in the English service, who after- 
wards ran off deck, and hid himself below during the battle of Navarin. 


310 CAVENDISH ; OH, 

the other Turkish officers, when they solemnly bound them- 
selves to observe the armistice, and send no vessels from 
Navarin for twenty- one days ? The fact of being present he 
admitted, but pretended a belief that Sir Edward had sub- 
sequently given consent to the request, that a division 
should relieve Patras. The admiral then informed them, 
that having broken their words of honour, he would no 
longer hold faith with, or place trust in any of them ; that 
they should instantly return to port, and if not willingly, 
they would be compelled by force. 

As the interpreter seemed afraid to deliver this declaration 
with its full weight and meaning, Sir Edward wrote a letter 
to the effect of what he had said, and sent it by one of the 
lieutenants to Mustapha, the Patrona Bey, commanding the 
division as a vice-admiral. In an hour and a half an answer 
was returned, when the Asia filled her maintop-sail, and 
fired a gun. The Turkish admiral then made a signal, when 
his squadron filled and made sail, returning on their way to 
Navarin ; but our admiral observing a brig edge off towards 
Patras, sent by way of hint two shots from his lower-deck 
guns across her bows, when she rejoined the rest. 

On seeing this peaceable termination of the matter, the 
sailors were very much annoyed. 

“ Oh ! their souls !” I heard one man say to ano- 

ther, “ the bermugian- built beggars ! they’ve a-got no fight 
in ’em. Who do they think is going to look after them, and 
stand here at our quarters in the drizzle, all for nothing ?” 

The weather had changed, and instead of the lovely day 
the morning promised, a wetting mist had set in. Break- 
fast was served out to the ship’s company at their guns ; 
and the day passed in watching the unwieldy brutes of 
Turkish vessels, doggedly jogging along, lingering as pro- 
vokingly on their passage as the Tenth Charles on his 
route to Cherbourg ; while, from having the powder ready 
for action, we could keep no fire alight, and were therefore 
obliged to serve out raw salt pork to the seamen for dinner, 
and the officers had either to eat that, or trust to whatever 
cold provisions their mess might contain — or, go without 
their meal. But the captain and gun-room officers gene- 
rously helped the poor middies, and we contrived to rough 
it out indifferently well. 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


ll 

As night approached, it was Decessary to keep a very 
strict watch over the Turkish fleet ; and the admiral afforded 
us no slight amusement, by making a signal for the Tal- 
thorpe to take charge of her convoy ! ” On the next day 
being the 3rd of October, another squadron, consisting of 
three frigates (two of them double-banked), four corvettes, 
and seven brigs, came round the north corner of Zante, and 
joined the rest. We again cleared for quarters, and ap- 
proached the body of the fleet, which now amounted to nearly 
forty-five sail, when we observed a communication taking 
place between the two commanding admirals. It after- 
wards turned out that Ibrahim was on board a fine Leghorn- 
built frigate, carrying about sixty guns ; but, cunning to the 
last, he never hoisted his flag. This, it appears, Sir Edward 
was aware of, and therefore hove-to, in order that he might 
observe what effect was produced on Ibrahim (who had just 
anchored), by the communication of the letter written to the 
Patrona Bey ; and at 6 p.m. their whole fleet once more 
made sail for Navarin. 

However, not to trouble my reader with all the shuffling 
manoeuvres of these Mussulmans, it will suffice here to state 
that they left no one artifice or evasion untried, by which to 
cajole or escape Sir Edward ; but it was useless. With a 
rare admixture of temper, sternness and determination, he met 
them at every point, and despite of the awful odds against 
us (which in all human probability would have ended in our 
destruction had an action ensued), he followed them alike 
through a heavy gale which sprung up, and the calm that 
succeeded it, for seven days ; and by offering them no alter- 
native save annihilation, finally compelled those men whom 
oaths of honour had failed to restrain, thus to abandon an 
enterprise which every feeling of self-interest prompted them 
to execute. Had that detachment escaped the English ad- 
miral, how changed would have been the ultimate result ! 
Instead of being cooped up within the harbour of Navarin, 
half the fleet would have been at liberty to ravage, plunder, 
and carry on their thousand unheard-of atrocities ; and 
while in chase of these, the remaining division of the fleet 
might have sailed with the same success : thus, not one, but 
two battles, would have been necessarily fought. 

And are these barbarians, these violators of their parole. 


312 CAVENDISH; OR, 

the men over whom English Tory ministers have raised 
their mournful ditty ? 

To finish my narration. After our having fired into seve- 
ral of their vessels, Patrona Bey, in one of his interviews, 
requested that Sir Edward would give him a statement in 
writing, to say he would not permit the relief of Patras ; in 
order (as the Patrona expressed it) that his head might be 
saved on his return to Turkey. 

On the 8th of October we made sail for Zante ; and on 
the following day the Asia saw the Turks once more enter 
the harbour of Navarin : and thus ended an affair, wherein 
British arms were crowned with as much glory as in any 
event which the annals of blood can produce. Taking away 
the dazzling halo which bloodshed flings over an action, it 
yields in heroic daring and unflinching firmness to none ; and 
it was won by British valour only. From beginning to end 
Sir Edward was supported solely by the Dartmouth and 
Talthorpe. The brig Zebra, having been sent for some re- 
inforcement on the evening of the second day, was replaced 
by the cutter Hind (a very small vessel, though commanded 
by one who was in talent second to very few, in bravery to 
none) ; and yet four-fifths of the world are in ignorance that 
such important events as these ever took place — events 
which hed the greatest weight in determining the allied 
commanders to that step which led to the battle so much 
deplored, so inconsistently rewarded and contemned ! 

A question will here naturally arise, how, in a country 
like England, an interested concealment of public events 
can take place. Alas ! when corruption is the leading 
principle of a government, nothing is easier. The fullest 
dispatches and information of this affair were sent home by 
the commander in chief, and entirely suppressed by the 
Admiralty. 

On the Sunday previous to our sailing for Zante, which 
place we were to visit on the road to Count Heyden, to re- 
quest this officer would join Sir Edward instantly, I had an 
opportunity of gazing on Missolonghi — sacred, as the scene 
of freedom's bloody struggle, and dear, as the last resting- 
place of the lamented Byron ! 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


313 


CHAPTER XXXVIII. 

Those feelings which are deepest, joy can give, 

Far, far beyond the listlessness of life ; 

And dearer far than all the years we live, 

Is that short hour which waits the coming strife ; 

Some passion’s madness — love or fame 

It wants, to gild this life, so trite, so tame. Destroit. 

In the course of another week we were joined by the French 
and Russian squadrons, the latter consisting of four ships of 
the line (of seventy-four guns each), the same number of 
frigates, and a corvette. The whole force of the combined 
fleet was now concentrated ; and the three admirals having 
met and re-examined the various instructions from their 
different courts, they came to the conclusion, that as, after 
the breach of his word, Ibrahim’s armistice was null and 
void, and no further confidence could be placed in him, the 
only method that remained for carrying into practical effect 
the views with which the Treaty of London had been 
entered into, was to enter the port, and, aided by the 
presence of the squadron, negotiate for its evacuation and 
the return of the Turks to the Dardanelles. 

The day named for entering the port was the 19th of 
October. The weather was almost calm ; and every prepa- 
ration having been made, the wind failed us altogether. 
Though the commander had given orders to prepare for 
action, regarding it only as a remote possibility, the junior 
officers, not being aware of the motives which actuated their 
superiors, could draw their conclusions alone from what 
they saw going on around them, and naturally, therefore, 
imagined that an engagement was certain. 

The duties of the day were over, and each individual had 
time to pace the deck, and reflect on the situation in which 
the morrow might find him placed. Beneath the stern of 
the pinnace I found little Goldsmith, sitting immersed in 
contemplation. He was one of those fragile blossoms that 
I have ever felt inclined to love. ’Twas odd — most singular, 
the heroic spirit that dwelt in such a gentle heart. I seated 
myself next to him. “ Well, old Goldy, what may your 
thoughts be runnimr udou ?” 


314 


CAVENDISH ; OR, 


" Death !” 

“ Ah ! — and yet one can hardly help giving the old 
scoundrel a glance, now that he seems so very near.” 

“ Yes, very — I have been thinking how delightful it 
would be, if our spirits might go and make to themselves a 
heaven of their own creation, inhabited alone by those we 
knew and loved on earth.” 

“Yes, Goldsmith, that indeed would be a paradise. I 
see you have been reading Moore’s ‘ Loves of the Angels/ 
How often has the same thought struck me ! indeed, I never 
look upon the heavenly spots which Greece affords, but I 
exclaim with a sigh to myself. 

Oh ! that the desert were my dwelling place, 

With one fair spirit for my minister! * 

How gladly would I fling up this bubble of an existence 
for that ! But why, Goldsmith, torment ourselves by 
dreaming of that which can never happen ? We are bound 
to enjoy what God has given us. Renounce such sad 
ideas ; you have many years in which to bound along your 
course.” 

“ It may be nearer finished, Cavendish, than we ima- 
gine.” 

“True; through each instant of our life, death hangs 
but on a thread ; the constant thought of this would para- 
lyse our energies ; instinct therefore leads us from continu- 
ally dwelling on it.” # 

“ It may be so ; but to-clay I have felt an unaccountable 
depression of spirits. I have tried to shake it off in vain.” 

“ Mere imagination my dear fellow !” 

“ He shook his head, and faintly replied, “ No.” Then 
added in an under tone, “ I hope I am prepared — fate 
is imperious — I wonder if the spirits of the dead revisit 
earth.” 

“ I should think not,” was my reply. 

“ Will you make an agreement with me, Cavendish V' 

“ Certainly ; what may it be ?” 

“ If I am shot, and it may be permitted to me, my spirit 
shall appear to you. If you are shot and I survive, yours 
shall appear to me.” 


Childe Harold. 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 315 

“ Agreed,” I replied, in a light manner ; " at what hour 
shall this spiritual visitation take place ?” 

“ At this very hour,” he replied. 

I looked at my watch ; it wanted a quarter of midnight. 

4€ Hold your jaw, master Jackey Barleycorn,” said one of 
the men below, in a laughing manner to Rye ; “ who knows 
but you may be shot ?” 

“ I shot !” returned my old friend; “ the shot's not cast 
in Turkey that's to kill Jack Rye,” — unconsciously quoting 
almost the exact words of Buonaparte.* Some reply was 
returned by the other ; but I was only enabled to catch the 
above fragment of their conversation, and they passed out 
of hearing. 

I arose to take a look at Navarin by moonlight, which I 
rightly conjectured would be the last. I have it now before 
me — the white, bright speck shining in the moon's rays, 
composed of the houses, which distance blended into one 
tiny mass ; while here and there, catching the moonbeam, 
might be seen one of the grove of masts arising from the 
harbour. 

As I beheld the majestic forms of the various men-of- 
war now slumbering on their native element, scarcely 
ruffled by the occasional breath that flitted over it, so soon 
to quit their repose for all the dread activity of death, 
“ while havoc scarce for joy could number their array,” it 
appeared to me, that all belonging to this earthly scene was 
lulled, except the darker passions of the human mind. I 
never yet beheld a deed of bloodshed, but nature mocked at 
man, and ushered in the hour of mortal strife with looks of 
calm derision. However near the hour of nothingness 
might be, I had the morning watch to keep, before my 
journey could be passed and over ; and having breathed a 
prayer that I might lose my head, rather than have either 
of my limbs hacked off, I descended to my hammock. 

The morning broke, as bright as earth has ever seen it ; 
and the wind, determined to retard the work of death no 
longer, blew with sufficient force to take us into the harbour 
of Navarin, and, by rolling away the smoke of the guns, to 
make destruction more deadly and secure. 

At the dear-bought battle of Trafalgar, 21st October, 
1805, Sir Edward Codrington was the youngest post-cap- 

* At Austerlitz. See History of Napoleon, in “ The Family Library.” 


316 


CAVENDISH J OR, 

tain commanding a ship of the line in Lord Nelson’s fleet ; 
and now, (the 20th October, 1827,) within one day of the 
twenty- second anniversary of that victory, he held the post 
of Commander-in-Chief, having under his direction a squa- 
dron belonging to the very nation against whom he had 
combated on that memorable day ! 

I have, or should have stated that previous to this, the 
Cymbrian had been sent on an errand of mercy, to prevent 
some atrocities, carrying on by Ibrahim Pacha, against the 
helpless inhabitants of the Morea, women and children. 
That such beings should disgrace the name of man ! This 
morning the Cymbrian hove in sight ; and at eleven o’clock, 

H. M. S. was sent off to windward to communicate. 

Various reasons were assigned for the Admiral sending so 
fine a vessel out of the way at such a moment : but the one 
most believed was, that the Admiral desired to show his 
displeasure at some piece of folly committed by her captain, 
who, I will say, was what the world calls a good man, but 
he certainly was a weak one. For instance, he might have 
been a brilliant addition — to “ a tea and tract party,” out- 
shining even the silver urn ; but I have no hesitation in say- 
ing, that he was most unfit to command the fine vessel 
which he did. 

He had religion and zeal, untempered by discretion ; and 
once for all, I must remark, that there is no one impulse, 
feeling or passion, which requires to be so warily and deli- 
cately treated on board a ship as religious enthusiasm. We 
all know, all see the fanaticism which seizes people on shore : 
on board, where the worse characters are often assembled, 
it is eagerly adopted as an excuse for the neglect of duty. 
The human heart is soon won over to believe the sentence 
ever on its lips : and how should we expect ignorant people 
to have due respect for fellow mortals, whose heated imagi- 
nations have already constituted them favourites of Omnipo- 
tence ? “In the eye of God, the beggar and the king are 
equal.” With such a belief amongst men who cannot rea- 
son from ignorance, the result is easily foreseen. To quell 
this rage, when once begun, is impossible. The arch fiend 
has no weapon of more stupendous strength in his power, 
than the pure and holy feeling of religion, tortured to 
fanaticism.* 

• No inducement should ever tempt the Admiralty to endanger the 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 317 

But to H. M. S. . The captain was fanatically dis- 

posed, the first-lieutenant was not. On the contrary, I 
have reason to believe that he was a clever man ; but at the 
exact moment of which I am speaking*, he had left the ship 
on his promotion. Previously, however, their difference of 
opinion had divided the ship into two parties — those of the 
senior officers, who used to come to morning prayers, sing 
psalms, &c. ; those of the opposite side, who took to swear- 
ing for bravado. The former only asking leave to go on 
shore from the captain; the latter referring to no one 
save the first-lieutenant. Of what use was such a ship to 
the State, except to waste its supplies ? The captain's men 
dared openly to insult the first-lieutenant with oaths and 
language which a court-martial could have punished with 
death, while he (the captain) refused even to flog them. 
Her discipline was of course lost ; and among other reports 
circulating on the station, it was said, that on Christmas- 
day so drunk was every soul on board, that the captain had 
himself to go round his lower deck, and extinguish each 
greasy tallow dip with his own hand. Had one of the ce- 
lebrated Mediterranean white squalls come on, a ship worth 
more than fifty thousand pounds would have been lost to 
the country, and upwards of three hundred human beings 
have perished. It is with reluctance that I give these 
things forth to the world : I have heard the officer highly 
spoken of, and doubt not that he has redeeming points : these 
have deterred me from naming himself or ship ; but it is 
my duty to hold out the warning as an example. 

On the evening of the 18th, we had seen a plan of the 
harbour, with the station allotted to each ship opposite the 
Turkish line, the latter being moored in the form of a cres- 
cent, extended from one side of the bay to the other. The 
Talthorpe had no peculiar berth given to her, because, from 
her being of such small force, and only carrying twenty- 

lives of his Majesty’s subjects, by giving a command to weak, foolish 
bigots. No man of sense would ever be led into such errors ; and here 
I may notice a fact communicated by a naval officer lately attending a 
Tegatta in the west of England ; namely, that a man holding the com- 
mission of Commander in his Majesty’s navy was seen for hours hold- 
ing forth to the rabble, in the middle of the public course, relieved by 
an Irishman of the lowest class of the people, so ignorant as to be nu- 
able to express himself, in either correct grammar or English. 


318 cavendish; or, 

eight thirty-two pounder carronades, the admiral could not 
expect her to prove a match for a Turkish frigate, few of 
which carried less than fifty guns ; she was therefore, I 
believe, directed to assist the Dartmouth and brigs, in taking 
charge of the enemy's fire-ships. The order of sailing, in 
entering the harbour, was arranged to be in two columns — 
the Russians forming one, the French and English the other. 

Many an anxious glance was directed towards our old 
friends in the Cymbrian, many a half-muttered prayer that 
she might be near us ; but all that we could discern of her 
was a huge press of sail. On the day previous, the follow- 
ing general order had been issued by the commander-in- 
chief, and may be interesting to the reader. 

“ Instructions* as to the manner of 'placing the combined fleet 
at Navarin ” 

“ Asia, off Navarin, October 19, 1827. 

“ It appears that the Egyptian ships, in which the French 
officers are embarked, are those most to the S. E. It is 
therefore my wish that his Excellency Rear-Admiral De 
Rignv should place his squadron abreast of them. As the 
next in succession appears to be a ship of the line with a 
flag at the main, I propose placing the Asia abreast of her, 
with the Genoa and Albion next to the Asia ; and I wish 
that his Excellency Rear-Admiral Count Heyden will have 
the goodness to place his squadron next in succession to 
the British ships of the line. The Russian frigates, in this 
case, can occupy the Turkish ships next in succession to the 
Russian ships of the line ; the English frigates forming 
alongside such Turkish vessels as may be on the western 
side of the harbour, abreast of the British ships of the line ; 
and the French frigates forming in the same manner, so as 
to occupy the Turkish frigates, &c. abreast of the French 
ships of the line. 

“ If time permit, before any hostility is commenced by 
the Turkish fleet, the ships are to moor with springs on 
the ring of each anchor. 

“ No gun is to be fired from the combined fleet without a 
signal being made for that purpose , unless shot shall be fired 
from any of the Turkish ships ; in which case, the ships so 
firing are to be destroyed immediately. 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 319 

" The corvettes are, under the direction of Captain Fel- 
lowes, of the Dartmouth, to remove the fire-vessels into 
such a position as will prevent their being able to injure 
any of the combined fleet. 

“ In case of a regular battle ensuing, and creating any of 
that confusion which must naturally arise from it, I may ob- 
serve, that, in the words of Lord Nelson, ‘ No captain can 
be very wrong who places his ship alongside that of an 
enemy.’ 

“ Edward Codrington.” 

Accompanying this order, a plan of the harbour, and di- 
rections as to the exact position to be taken up, was sent to 
each ship. 

At twelve, the fleet went to dinner, and from the gaiety 
around, a stranger would have little imagined the scene into 
which they were hastening. One serious remark alone was 
heard; it came from old Guy : 4 * Well, my boys, some of 
us will be missing here before the evening.” 

“ Yes,” slowly remarked one or two ; “ but no one talks 
of sadness now.” 

“ Fill up, fill up ! Here’s to sweethearts and wives. Hurrah! 
Mr. Caterer, here are two plum-puddings ; you shall have a 
vote of thanks. I propose we put by one of these to have a 
set-to after the spree .” 

This was instantly agreed to ; the steward satisfactorily 
answered the inquiry of what quantity of rum he had. Din- 
ner was finished, and ourselves summoned by the boatswain’s 
pipe to quarters ; taking care to carry with us several bottles 
oi cassis , which we stowed away in the signal locker, lest 
they might be wanted for the wounded or the thirsty. 

Shortly after reaching the deck we beheld the Asia give 
out the signal, “ Prepare for action ;” and as the honourable 
distinction of repeating- ship was ours, we immediately 
hoisted the same. Having made one or two evolutions to 
afford the ships time to get ready, the commander-in-chief 
stood in. 

If any other fact besides those adduced were wanting to 
prove that no action was intended, it lies in this : in leading 
the way, the Asia was, I should think, at least half a mile 
in advance of the other English vessels, while the French 


320 CAVENDISH ; OR, 

line-of-battle ships were distant a quarter of an hour’s sail, 
and the Russian squadron performing some evolution, pre- 
paratory to making their sailing column, which kept them 
still farther off. Is it likely, therefore, if Sir Edward had 
treated the Turks wholly in the light of an enemy, that he 
would have risked his ship, comparatively speaking, so little 
Supported ? On approaching sufficiently near the bay to 
count the Turkish vessels, they presented a most formidable 
and extensive front, as the harbour was literally crammed, 
the amount being one hundred sail. Next in succession to 
the Asia followed the Genoa, close on whose larboard quarter 
came the Albion ; at some little distance after the last was 
the Dartmouth, and immediately astern, ourselves. The only 
change that had taken place among our officers was, that 
Mr. Brown, the third-lieutenant, had left us, and we had 
been joined by a Mr. Portland. Though sorry to part with 
the former, the latter was a most estimable gentleman, and 
a pleasant, good officer. The good-looking fellow, too, that 
generous madcap Jennings, had also left us, and returned to 
England to pass his examination. 


CHAPTER XXXIX. 

Lo ! dusky masses steal in dubious sight, 

Along the leaguer’d wall and bristling bank 
Of the arm’d river, while, with straggling light, 

The stars peep through the vapours dim and dank, 

Which curl in curious wreaths — how soon the smoke 
Of hell shall pall them in a deeper cloak ! Don J uan. 

The entrance of the harbour (which might be made almost 
impregnable) is guarded by two sets of forts. The strong- 
est, surrounding the town, is built on a promontory of the 
mainland, and consists of several tiers, the lowest throwing 
large stone shot, similar to the Dardanelles ; the opposite 
batteries, on the left-hand, which I think were temporary, 
being situated on the island of Sphagia. 

On the arrival of the Asia opposite the town, she was 
boarded by a boat from the shore, which came with a mes- 
sage from the Pacha commanding the batteries, to Sir Ed- 
ward, to desire that he would not come in. Sir Edward 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


321 


replied, that in coming in, his intentions were entirely of a 
pacific nature, being solely to carry on negociations with 
Ibrahim Pacha : and moreover, that the commander-in- 
chief of the combined fleet of Europe came to command, 
and not to obey. Sir Edward then expressed a wish of 
sending some letter, or message, I believe, to Ibrahim ; but 
the messenger refused to take it, alleging that he was not at 
Navarin, but had gone into the country. The admiral, having 
pointed to the preparations on deck, expressed his readiness 
for any result, and hoping that no hostility w T ould be offered, 
received an assurance to that effect, and dismissed the Turk. 
The messenger had barely returned when a blank gun was 
fired, and a signal, or rather an ensign, hoisted at the fort. 
On seeing this, the seamen, who interpreted it after the Eu- 
ropean custom, in a pacific sense, burst forth in a murmur 
of indignation : “ Ah ! the beggars, they won’t fight arter 
all” 

In the course of a few minutes the Asia took up her ap- 
pointed berth ; the Genoa and Albion anchored in their re- 
spective places, followed in their course by the Dartmouth, 
which came-to nearer the centre, and more advanced towards 
the town and entrance of the bay. When the Talthorpe and 
Dartmouth arrived at this point, their roads separated, she 
anchoring as aforesaid, while we sheered off to the western 
side of the harbour, bringing up at perhaps the distance of 
half a mile from the island of Sphagia, in one hundred and 
fifty feet of water, with a chain-cable. The station which we 
had thus taken up was that allotted to the Cymbrian and 

, both large frigates, they being still two miles distant 

at least. 

As I beheld broadside after broadside, and frigate after 
frigate, whose guns would all bear upon us with the greatest 
facility, I thought to myself, “ If an action does ensue before 
we are supported, good-bye to the Talthorpe I for wrought- 
iron would be unable to bear the hammering she must ex- 
pect.” On our starboard bow, just out of point-blank range, 
a distance of four hundred yards, was a large Turkish fifty- 
two gun frigate, whose cannon I counted. On our beam, 
out of the reach of our carronades, was a corvette ; on our 
quarter, at the distance of two hundred yards, was a frigate 
of fifty guns, somewhat smaller than the one on the bow ; 

Y 


322 


CAVENDISH ; OR, 


while astern came a whole line of vessels of the same class, 
at full liberty to direct their whole fire upon us, because 
only four ships having as yet anchored, and being on the op- 
posite side of the bay, nothing came between us and their 
broadsides. 

Thus far fortune had played us a glorious trick ; but not 
the slightest blame could be attached to Captain Sawyer. 
He could not hang back, where the admiral led in, and the 
strict order of sailing was sacrificed, to give the Turks a 
convincing proof of our pacific intentions. On the contrary, 
the world must hold, that a berth thus taken up by a young 
post-captain, is but an earnest of a future day. 

Time — barely sufficient — was afforded to take a look at 
our ticklish position, when I heard the sound of musketry, 
and, turning, beheld the Dartmouth's men firing from the 
maintop. On looking for the object against which this 
volley was directed, I beheld a fire- vessel discharging fire- 
arms into an English boat alongside. A huge column of 
dense, black smoke, accompanied by flames, suddenly arose, 
and in two minutes she exploded. While this had been 
going on in the middle of the bay, the Asia, having anchor- 
ed on the inner side, piped her watch to square yards, and 
the commander-in-chief had given orders to let the band 
assemble, and play on the poop, thus dismissing the ship’s 
company from their guns. Now, however, he observed the 
Brulot fire on the Dartmouth’s boat, and, according to 
the general order, the fire was returned on the offending 
vessel only. At the same time, a shot from the Turkish 
flag-ship (I believe) was fired into the Asia. The drum was 
instantly beat to quarters, and the flag-lieutenant, Mr. Dilke, 
sent in a boat, with the Admiral’s pilot, to the Turkish 
commandant, to request that he would cause a cessation of 
firing, and to guarantee from the commander-in-chief that 
no shot should be fired from the combined fleet. 

While this conference was taking place alongside, and the 
pilot was translating Mr. Dilke’s words, a Turk had the 
barbarous treachery to fire a pistol at the admiral’s pilot, 
who, receiving the ball in his breast, fell a corpse in the 
bottom of the boat. Nothing now remained for the flag- 
lieutenant but to get, as fast as possible, on board the Asia, 
which ship in the mean time had been again fired into, as 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 323 

also the Sirene, bearing the flag of Chevalier de Rigny, who 
immediately opened fire in return. 

On viewing these things, the commander-in-chief per- 
ceived it was beyond his power to put an end to the hostili- 
ties which the Turks had provoked ; and no other course 
now remained for him but to avenge the treacherous insult 
offered to the British flag, in the wanton murder of his pilot, 
proverbially the best on the station. So far as we have 
seen, not only was the aggression wholly on the side of the 
Turks, but it was of such a nature, that it could not be over- 
looked without compromising the dignity of the combined 
flags : nay, it had gone beyond this ; and I doubt, after the 
Sirene had returned the shot fired into her, whether it was 
possible on our side to have caused a cessation of firing, had 
even our very existence depended on it, owing to the total 
want of discipline throughout the Ottoman fleet. 

I now return to H. M. S. the Dartmouth. On anchoring. 
Captain Fellowes observed a fire-vessel ready to drop down 
upon him ; and, manning a boat, sent and requested its cap- 
tain to shift its berth. The fire- vessel, as far as I have been 
enabled to learn, made a signal to its admiral to know whe- 
ther it should move, and was directed to remain stationary. 
Captain Fellowes then sent another boat, with directions to 
take her in tow, and drop her into a less threatening posi- 
tion. On the approach of the second boat, the Turks fired 
into her ; when the British seamen pushed alongside to 
board, and Lieutenant Fitzroy, commanding, was shot dead. 
He was the first man that fell, and was an amiable and 
much-esteemed officer. In the same attempt at boarding 
was also killed the poet of the fleet ; and, as in duty bound, 
with a fellow-feeling, I must stay to shed a few drops — of 
ink, upon his grave ! His name certainly was not a very 
poetic one — Mr. Brown Smith ; but having seen his pro- 
ductions, and heard his praises, and moreover, having, by 
his death, I suppose, succeeded to the honours (the only 
ones the laureate would share) of singing “ Navarin,” I am 
glad to pay to his departed promise the slight tribute such 
pages as these can afford ; — would they were worthier. 

Having succeeded in cutting her cables, the Brulot ex- 
ploded in the midst of boarding : and I once more take 
up the tale of the Talthorpe. At the moment of the explo- 

y 2 


324 CAVENDISH ; OR, 

sion, our men were aloft, furling sails : Captain Sawyer in- 
stantly called them in, and sent them below to their guns. 
Up to this moment, the Turks in the ships opposed to us 
had been staring at us with the utmost nonchalance ; some 
of them dangling their legs out of the entering port, others 
smoking their pipes : but no sooner had the sound of small 
arms reached them, than they scampered down to their guns, 
and gave us their first broadside, just as our men were get- 
ting in off the yards, without the most distant provocation 
having been ofifered on our side. After the long training 
which our men had undergone, I need not say that they 
performed their duty to admiration : the greatest coolness 
was observable throughout ; only broken by the feeling of 
wild glee that seemed so unaccountably to animate each 
breast to deeds of blood. When we received the enemy's 
broadside, I was standing near the main -mast, and became 
enveloped in a shower of chips, that fell from the heel of the 
main -top-mast. 

“Now then, Manvers Cavendish," I exclaimed to my- 
self, “ behold the hour for long years so often dreamt and 
read of — so sighed and wished for — now really and truly 
you are in a general action — and no mistake on that score ! 
Awake! awake!" — giving myself “a big knock." “Is 
this positively the same sort of scene, which, when a boy of 
twelve years, my fancy imaged out, as occurring on board 
Nelson’s flag-ship at the Nile, while reading his life in bed 
one morning for about the third time ?’’ The self-same 
hour came back to me — the room, the bed, the book, the 
furniture — the raptured anticipations of the future. “ ’Tis 
wonderful !" I muttered to myself, “ how like this scene is 
to that my fancy painted, substituting for the quarter-deck 
of a line-of-battle ship that of a small frigate." So little 
too as I knew about men-of-war at that period, the most 
extraordinary thing to my imagination is, that my head 
still remains on my shoulders ! 

From this reverie I was awakened by a tap on the pate : 
it came from one of my messmates, who pointed to the 
gaff bearing the ensign, which the first shot had cut away ; 
but being signal midshipman, I had by the captain’s order 
hoisted a flag at each mast-head, the cross of St. George 
being at the main. 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


325 

A little prior to this, I beheld the French admiral come 
in and anchor ; and never did I witness any thing done in 
a more masterly style — it was beautiful ! — it was grace 
itself ! In twenty minutes, the ship that fired into her was 
dismasted : our next war with France will be short in its 
actions, but desperate indeed ; such is the excellence in 
gnnnery at which both nations have arrived. But I must 
not anticipate. No vessel had appeared to give us relief, 
and we still remained carrying on the unequal contest, one 
eight-and-twenty against three frigates, and the diabolical 
corvette a -beam, whose long swivel thirty- two pounder, 
worked I suppose by some French engineer, sent its well- 
directed shot every now and then into our bends. The 
captain's look was firmness and determination itself, min- 
gled with a great deal of snuff’, and some anxiety for the 
fate of his crew. The master looked queerish, the first- 
lieutenant blue ; as for the men, they only roared out, “ Go 
it Charlotte !” " Hurrah ! give it to 'em !” “ Now for a 

clincher !” — and fought like so many smoke-begrimed 
devils. 

Affairs had gone on thus for twelve minutes, every one 
wishing that those good old hearty fellows, the Cymbrians, 
would come in and fight alongside of us; hut, alas! on 

looking towards them, we beheld her afar off with the , 

under a heavy press of sail, making haste to join m the fun. 

I think I never spent so long a quarter of an hour, always 
excepting those moments of deep suspense, when waiting 
for one in whom the heart is interested : I have tried both, 
and think that the fretfulness of the latter beats the sus- 
pense of life and death hollow. At the termination of 
fifteen minutes, we beheld a French frigate making towards 
us, L'Armide was her name, commanded by the gallant 
Captain Hugon. Passing in almost full sail along our 
weather-beam, and then under our stern, she suddenly 
brought up, all standing, on our starboard quarter, close 
alongside the fiftv-gun frigate in that direction. It is im- 
possible to award too much praise to the Armide : it was a 
most difficult manoeuvre to execute, and done in a manner 
that would have thrown lustre even on Horatio Nelson. 

Never did aid arrive more opportunely ; I think we owed 
our salvation to her. An English ship could not strike to 


326 CAVENDISH ; OR, 

such barbarians, although five to one ; but the villains might 
have sunk us, and then 

On seeing the Armide pass under our stern, the men 
were allowed for a few minutes to quit their guns ; and 
mounting the hammock- nettings and taffrail, saluted the 
French with three as hearty cheers as ever yet sounded over 
a sea of slaughter. Heartily were they returned ; and, 
cheered with fresh spirit, they jumped to the gun- tackles 
once more. 

“ I say there, you salvagee Jack, give us some more 
shot r 

“ Ay, ay, bo !" 

“ That's right ; d e, let them have it !" said 

Pinchit. 

“ Lord Pinchit," interrupted the captain, catching up 
what he had uttered, “ this is neither time nor place for 
swearing." 

“ Here you are, my lads, plenty of shot," exclaimed Jack 
Hearty, coining up the hatchway, while the space between 
his bare bosom and his shirt was stuffed out with rusty iron 
cannon balls, and wads. Many of the mids on the quarter- 
deck had taken off their neckcloths to tie around their 
waists — others with their jackets off, helped the men to 
work the guns. Nothing could exceed my surprise at 
having been one hour in the hottest part of a hot action, 
without having any man's brains bespattered in my face, 
or any of my limbs damaged. I had seen no one killed, 
and therefore congratulated myself that this was a non- 
pareil of an engagement — too soon was I to be undeceived ! 

Seeing the men on the forecastle- quarters cheering their 
comrades below, I walked forward to see how affairs were 
going on. The ten men stationed there, with Neville at 
their head as the officer, had no part to occupy their atten- 
tion save that of spectators. The long guns properly belong- 
ing to this part of the deck had, from being too large, inter- 
fered with carrying on the duty, and were therefore wisely 
removed to the quarter-deck, where there was room to work 
them, while the quarter-ports, carronades, being placed in 
the bridle-deck, had only a range of four points, and were 
quite useless — so much for “ Jackass frigates." 

As the men of the forecastle- quarters were also riggers 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


327 

and boarders, whose duty it is to repair damages aloft, and 
repel the enemy boarding below, they were not of course 
allowed to quit their station ; while, being unemployed, 
without anything to stimulate their passions save the mere 
love of glory, at the same time equally exposed with the rest, 
they certainly enjoyed their otium cum dignitate ; but had, I 
should think, as unpleasant a piece of duty as any in the 
ship. Still they were of no slight use ; for, being near a 
hatchway, they watched the effect of our shot on the hull 
of our antagonist, and, as the smoke was dispelled from the 
bow quicker than from any other part, they were enabled to 
give their messmates the necessary directions how to fire. 

“ Hurrah ! my hearties, that's into them : train a point 
more aft, — slap it into her counter, — that tells, — a little bit 
too high, — now for it, — so — I think she’s settling. Holloa ! 
look out here, boys.” And as an old seaman said this, a 
gun was discharged from the enemy’s bow, and they all 
dodged on one side, and very fairly, as they had not the 
means of returning the compliment. One man alone, whose 
attention was directed towards something else, stood still, 
— the gun was double-shotted, — one came whistling through 
the sides, tearing out bolts, planks, and every thing else, — 
passing through the bottom of both boats lying on the booms, 
and burying itself amidst the heap of spare spars ; the other 
having more elevation, barely passed over the bulwark where 
the seaman alluded to was standing : he fell — we all ran to- 
wards him ; he was unhurt, but happening to be leaning on a 
rope for support, the shot had severed it at a little distance 
from his hand. Several of us took out our knives, and cutting 
off a piece, committed it to our pockets as a relic. This I 
have lost, but part of an iron bolt which I picked up at the 
same time, I have now. 

“ They say poor little Mr. Goldsmith is killed, sir,” said 
one of the men, with a mournful shake of the head, coming 
up the fore-scuttle hatchway; “and three others beside. 
I’ve just been down below, and can’t learn the rights of it, 
’cept that it’s all true as to his being gone — worse luck.” 

At this very moment Straw came walking forward on 
the gangway, when a shot from the batteries struck the 
hammock-netting, ripping open the boards, and, bringing 
out with it feathers, blankets, &c., hit Straw, that huge 


CAVENDISH ; OR, 


328 

Leviathan, on the hip, and then rolled upon the deck. 
What force could subdue such a mountain of fat ? The 
devil’s children have their father’s luck ! — the ball was 
nearly spent when it struck the ship, and the soft nature of 
the bedding had taken away its remaining power. When 
Neville beheld the narrow escape which his persecutor had 
experienced, he exclaimed, “ What an envious, partial judge 
is Death ! He spares the tyrant to strike down the brave, 
the gentle, and the good ! Could he not have taken such 
a brute, and spared poor Goldsmith ? Justice is not for 
this world.” 

“ If those chaps ashore had put a pound more powder 
into that gun, why I’d a thanked ’em,” said one of the 
seamen, in an under voice to the others. 

Returning to the quarter-deck by the starboard gangway, 

I joined some of my messmates, who had supplied the place 
of the disabled men at the long nine. Here I found my 
old friend Rye, the captain, still unhurt, while Ducabore, 
Green, and Guy, were assisting him, with the remnant of 
his men, to run the gun in and out. 

“ Hah ! Mr. Cavendish,” said Rye, “ I’m glad to see 
you alive and kicking, sir, like a cow in a copper tea-kettle. 
Now, my dickey corvette. I’ll wop it into ye ! So, there 

— a little abaft — so ” looking along the sight of the gun 

which he was aiming. His hand contained the trigger 
line, which he was on the point of pulling, when at the 
touch of gunpowder’s iron magic, every man at the piece 
was stretched upon the deck, myself among the rest, and 
there we rolled in human gore. A shot from our small op- 
ponent had carried away the arch of the port, and descend- 
ing slightly, hit the bolts and gun-tackles, wounding in its 
progress old Guy in both legs, Ducabore in both arms, and 
poor Rye from his shouulder to his hip, in a manner so torn 
and terrible, that it was horrid to behold him. 

Captain Sawyer immediately ran towards us, and directing 
the wounded to be carried below, ordered aft the forecastle- 
quarters to work the gun. “ Well,” thought I, “ this cer- 
tainly is tedious work, and it seems as far from its conclu- 
sion as ever. Now that the heat and passion of the moment 
are over, ’tis very disgusting to look around. I wish to 
Heaven, as people say of their sick spouses, that it were de- 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


329 

cided one way or another : or that I had something more 
to do than lounge about like a dandy adrift in Burlington 
Arcade/’ If I looked out upon the waters, nothing met the 
sight but one mass of smoke, blood, and tumult : ships on 
fire in every direction ; Turkish frigates, whose sterns were 
wreathed in flames, yet firing away from their bow-ports, 
with all the fury of mad, enthusiastic despair, while the 
crescent of Mahommed fluttered in the atmosphere of flame 
surrounding it, unhurt. It might be consumed, they seemed 
to say, but never lowered. 

From this I looked within, and found but little joy in my 
heart, from brooding over this scene of desolation. By 
way of change, therefore, I turned towards the hatchway 
with a most heroic resolution of paying a visit to the slaugh- 
ter-house, as the middle of the main deck is called. 

I had not proceeded far before my steps were arrested by 
some mangled corpses of so incarnadine a hue, that from 
my short sight I took them to be Turks. I w r as wrong: 
and stooping down to examine their features, recognised 
the first as the rope-maker, one of our best hands, and the 
other a powder-boy. “ May your sleep, brave lads, be 

sound ! you died for glory ; and I had nearly followed 

in the same path.” 

While stooping, I heard a whizzing sound accompanied 
by a crash overhead ; it was merely a cannon-shot carrying 
away a stanchion ; had I been standing up, it would have 
passed via myself, that is, through my body. This was as 
severe a trial of my nerves as they required ; but they never 
flinched : and having made my rounds at leisure, and seen 
my friend Thread, who had received a severe splinter-blow 
on the side, and passed through Willstand’s quarters, who, 
though very much begrimed, was as cool as ever, I returned 
on deck. 

“ Hurrah ! hurrah ! my boys, she’s struck !” were the 
shouts that greeted my ear on returning to my old quarters. 
Looking at the enemy, I beheld her crimsoned flag slowly 
sinking from the peak to the poop, at which delightful sight 
we gave three cheers, and took a moment’s brief respite from 
our labours. 

The antagonist of L’Armide had some time since struck, 
after forty-five minutes hard fighting ; on seeing which we 


330 


CAVENDISH ; OR, 

gave our friends three huzzas, and they returned it on the 
other Turkish frigate becoming our prize. It was now not 
quite ten minutes past four, and w r e had commenced firing 
at ten minutes before three. Some considerable time since, 
the Russians had arrived in the bay, and the AzofF, running 
past us, discharged a broadside over our rigging, and then 
anchoring astern, threw a very sufficient protection be- 
tween the frigates forming the centre of the crescent and 
the Talthorpe ; so that now, although the action was but 
little past its zenith, all that we had to do was to bring the 
vile corvette to “ order and though not so easy a task, it 
was finished, as you may suppose, before nightfall. 

As soon as our prize had struck, I hastened to carry the 
tidings down into the gun-room, thinking that such news 
would prove a cordial to the poor wounded fellows lying on 
the deck, while the surgeon and his assistant were attending 
to their wounds. I opened the door. — " She's struck, my 
boys !” “ Hurrah !” hoarsely gasped forth several fainting 

lungs. “ She’s struck !” was echoed by a small thin voice 
proceeding from a corner. I looked around for the speaker. 
On a bed deeply dyed with the gore of him who was stretched 
upon it, was a little form of youth and innocence. I ap- 
proached, and, kneeling by its side, looked on those features 
of boyish, placid beauty — harrowed indeed with anguish, 
but wearing still a smile of triumph, that lingered round its 
delicate and pallid lips, while the eyes were dimly fixed to- 
wards that heaven to which its soul had fled for ever. It 
was my poor little messmate, Goldsmith. I took his hand 
in mine, but death had chilled its warmth. Both his legs 
had been taken off, while in the act of directing the men at 
his gun. Space was not even afforded to apply a tourni- 
quet, and grieved as was the surgeon, — who had a great 
esteem for little Goldsmith, and was a most humane man, 
— he could do nothing to prevent his sinking into the cold 
and silent embrace of mortality, the general shock to the 
whole frame having been too great to permit even of an at- 
tempt at amputation. Not a sound was he heard to utter, 
during three parts of an hour (the length of time which he 
lay in this state) until my entrance into the gun-room, when 
he repeated the words I had used, and, crowned with the 
wreath of victory, his spirit had entered into the merciful 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


331 

presence of its God — as pure, as spotless, as woman’s child 
could be. In vain does reason seek a clue to guide us here. 
Why should such an unoffending creature be doomed to 
such a death, when villains are left behind unscathed ? Be- 
cause he was most fit to be taken away ? Why then should 
any be cut off in the midst of their crimes ? — For punish- 
ment ? These are but imperfect answers, and show a 
reason, but no rule ; the clouds of mist and error will follow 
mortality to its grave. 

By half-past six o’clock the action was over. Partial 
firing still continued in different parts of the bay for some 
hours, but the general cannonnade had ceased ; and Cap- 
tain Sawyer, after seeing that every precaution had been 
taken for the safety of his ship, made it his first care to ob- 
serve, in person, that every attention was paid to the 
wounded. 

We had piped to grog, and as I was passing through the 
avenue of mangled men, crying in every direction to be freed 
from their torments, I heard a voice of agony articulate my 
name. “Ah, Rye, my poor fellow, is it you? How ar*. 
you ?” I replied, seeing my old shipmate laid out upon a 
chest in the steerage, and bleeding rapidly to death. 

“ Ah, Mr. Cavendish, it’s all up with me. I’m regularly 
floored now ; not a shot in the locker, or a drop in the 
bottle.” 

“ Oh, cheer up, cheer up, Rye ; you’ll soon be round 
again.” 

“ I, sir, I ? — never ! I’m scuttled, hard aground, head 
and stern ; grim death’s aboard me, though I’m not an old 
nigger, either,”* shaking his head feebly. “ No !” looking 
towards his shattered body, “ I’m a riddled auld hulk, 
every spar gone — never answer my helm again. My top- 
lights are dimming — they’ll never be trimmed again this 
side o’the line. Where’s your hand, sir ? put it in mine, 
though ’tis a pity to dirty your white fingers with the blood 
of an auld boy like me. Is this it, sir ? — thank ye.” Af- 
fectionately squeezing my hand in his own, and gasping 
with a throe of agony, “ Ah, sir, you’ve a soft hand, and 
I’ve always a-found your heart a bit of the same stuff. I’m 
afeard, sir, I die in your debt.” 

* A. seaman’s phrase. 


32 


CAVENDISH ; OR, 

“ Never, Rye, never think of it — my life — my life — you 
saved.” 

“ Well, sir, I’m glad to have sarved ye in some sort ; 
but, come, it be’n’t hardly worth while to — to — blubber, for 
an old tar like me, — thof I’m nearly as bad myself while 
the brine rolled over his wrung and sun-burnt features, as 
he continued to himself, attempting, mechanically, to raise 

his fractured limb to wipe his eyes, “ D me if I thought 

there was ere a soul cared half so much for Jack Rye, unless 
it were poor Susy. Mr. Cavendish,” — he resumed, after a 
pause, “ I have one favour to axe of ye.” 

“ Speak out. Rye, it shall be granted.” 

“ Do ’a take care that d- d old nipcheese doesn’t make 

me chew more backey,* when I’m sheered off the grating, 
than what’s fair play. And, Mr. Cavendish ” 

- Well, Rye.” 

“ My old ’oman lives at 32, King’s-street, Gossy ; and 
ye could just dropt in and see she’s got my pay and smart 
— if ye would do this — for auld lang syne, — why. I’ll look 
up from Fiddler’s Green, and thank ye.” 

“ Depend on it, my fine fellow. I’ll remember the old 
girl for many a day.” 

“ Thank’e, sir, thank’e ; I didn’t expect less, or . 

Well, sir, you see, here I am ; that old gipsey told me true 
enough — I’ve never passed the straits since I came through 
in the old Niobe. I’ll never make auld Beachy again in a 
misty morning; and Gossy, poor old Gossy, she’s over 
the water for me, and the dear auld girls, too, all gone. 
I’ll never kick up another spree in Capstan Square; but 
there, first or last, ’tis all the same.” 

His clasp, tightened with the last gush of feeling from an 
affectionate heart, then relaxed ; his frame was agitated by 
a convulsive throe, indicating the separation of the soul 
from the body, and the mangled form before me was the 
last remaining bit of a genuine British tar. 

The next day was the Sabbath, the first, the last, I ever 
hope to pass in such a manner. Almost every hour some 

* To “ make dead men chew tobacco ” was a method used by pur- 
sers to cheat the deceased seamen, by placing to the account of the 
deceased, a greater quantity of the “ Indian weed ” than they had ever 
consumed. 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


333 

ship blew up, sending its volume of smoke towards heaven, 
heavy with human offerings, when, having gained a certain 
height, where the air was not more dense than itself, it 
could of course rise no higher, and therefore expanded on 
every side, forming a complete canopy, and making, on the 
whole, just such a throne as Eblis might be supposed to sit 
on — dark — gigantic — appalling. 

The list of killed and wounded has already been before 
the public. I shall only remark here, that out of one hun- 
dred and thirty men, we lost six by death, and nineteen 
were disabled bv wounds, — being one killed and three 
wounded out of every twenty, the greatest proportion of any 
English ship engaged, the Genoa having the greatest aggre- 
gate number, namely, twenty- seven killed out of seven hun- 
dred, or one man out of every twenty-five. 

There are of course many other details, which would be 
interesting and admissible, were I writing an account of this 
battle solely ; — I am not ; and have but poorly been able to 
devote the space to it which I have already given. I have 
dwelt the longest and most carefully upon the commencement 
of hostilities ; and I hope not altogether in vain, since an 
unprejudiced eye will see that the combined fleet did not 
open fire until stern necessity, the safety of themselves, and 
the honour of their respective flags, compelled them to do 
so — and such, I uphold, was the result contemplated by 
his Majesty’s ministers, under the premiership of Mr. Can- 
ning.* 

As for our cronies of the Cymbrian, they did not arrive 
in the bay until forty minutes after the action ; so that not 
being able to find any one to engage with, and unable to 
pass into the bay where the shot was flying about from all 
quarters, they were in the predicament of a votary of Terp- 
sichore in want of a partner. However, they anchored off 
the batteries, which were silenced in part by their fire, and 

* I owe it to myself to say, that it was originally intended to intro- 
duce, as an appendix, numerous government documents passing be- 
tween the admiral, the ministers, and the English ambassador, which 
warranted this assertion, and one still more extensive, namely, that no 
government in any country could have more grossly violated every 
feeling and principle of public honour and justice than did the late one 
of the Duke of Wellington towards the officers and men of Navarin. 
Three weeks, however, before the appearance of this novel, circum- 
stances occurred to render the suppression of these pages indispensable. 


334 CAVENDISH ; OR, 

thus were of considerable use, though not in the station 
appointed, nor the one Captain Humbleman would have 
wished to take up. The lateness of their arrival was, by 

some, attributed to the humbug and nonsense of the 

the crew of which ship retorted the charge. But this I 
know, so enraged were the two crews, that they would 
gladly, if the service had permitted it, have turned their 
guns upon one another. 

The Russians up to this period having been of as little 
use as if moored in their own harbour of Cronstadt, now 
undertook to row guard during the night ; we were, there- 
fore, spared all trouble on that head, and the men were al- 
lowed to sleep at their guns, six look-out men having been 
stationed. At ten o’clock, the remains of poor little Gold- 
smith having been carefully wrapped and swathed, were 
committed to the deep with the burial service, the same 
ceremony being subsequently performed over all the dead. 

For one uprising name that Glory gilds, how many does 
she not lay low ! Throughout the whole of the night the 
vessels around us continued to burn and explode, their guns 
being discharged as the flames reached them. One man 
was a victim to this : he was sitting conversing with a mess- 
mate — they were in fact congratulating one another on their 
mutual safety, when a shot came in from a burning wreck, 
and took his leg off. This haunted me throughout the whole 
of the night ; — after having weathered the dangers of the 
day, to be shot in such a manner was very disagreeable. In 
particular, our inveterate enemy, the corvette, after having 
been silenced (for I doubt if she ever struck), drove on shore, 
and was set on fire directly astern. I took a glass, and could 
discover that her guns were so pointed that they must rake 
us. Under this conviction I remained pacing the deck for 
an hour, expecting each moment to feel some of my mem- 
bers move off without leave, not choosing to mention the 
circumstance to the captain, lest my apprehensions might 
have exaggerated the danger. 

Having taken my stand on the signal lockers to wait the 
result, to my infinite joy she blew up sooner than I could 
have expected. I was beginning to think myself safe, when 
I was knocked down and stunned — while, by the sound 
around, I thought the decks were about to be beaten in. 
On awaking, I found that an immense splinter from one of 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


335 

her burning beams had fallen near me, while a smaller one 
had alighted on my head, which was nevertheless on my 
shoulders ; and, anxious to keep it there, I hastened down 
into the captain’s cabin, now sprinkled with gore and utterly 
dismantled, to see if his worship’s little low settee was dis- 
engaged : but it was occupied three deep ; and, laying my 
head on another man’s shoulder, and tumbling my limbs 
upon the softest plank I could find, I was soon asleep. Not 
long had I enjoyed this state, when I saw little Goldsmith 
enter the cabin in his usual uniform. His face, I thought, 
looked paler, and was dashed with a faint streak of blood, 
but his smile was more decisive of happiness than in life. 
He advanced to me with a cheerful step, and stooping, 
placed his little hand against my cheek ; its very coldness 
made me start. I looked into his face, as much as to ask 
his meaning. He smiled yet more ; his lips moved, I heard 
the words “Supremely bless’d !” — and starting, I awoke, 
but the cold hand still seemed to remain on my face. Ea- 
gerly I grasped at it ; nor did it elude my clutch. 

“A light, a light ! give me a light !” 

“ Ah, that’s just what I’ve been talking about,” said some 
mid’s voice. “ A man might consider himself supremely 
bless'd if that stingy old purser would only give us more 
light. But for what do you want a light ?” 

“ Oh, to see what this is” — moving the cold fleshy sub- 
stance which I had grasped. 

“ Avast, there !” said the other, who turned out to be 
Pinchit, “ don’t you be cribbing it from under my head ; it’s 
only John Blackitt, the mizen-topman’s leg. I hate to sleep 
without some pillow, ’cause the deck’s so cursed hard.” 


CHAPTER XL. 

Reuben . — Didst say he was a noble 2 
Methought nobility lay in the soul ; 

Whereas this dirty fellow 

Would prove offensive on a dunghill. 

Sour.slop . — We call them nobles, but we count them niggards. 

Old Play. 

The captain having read at the capstan the letter from the 
commander-in-chief, expressing his thanks to the officers 


336 CAVENDISH ; OR, 

and seamen, and his admiration of the manner in which they 
so gallantly supported him, we bade a long adieu to the 
scene of slaughter. 

Without having been obliged to heave-to much more than 
half a dozen times to stop the leakage of our shot-holes, (a 
pretty thing in time of chase, for we had been barbarously 
handled,) we arrived in quarantine harbour. 

Widely did the good inhabitants of La Valette open their 
eyes on the following morning, when they read the “ Go- 
vernment Gazette Extraordinary/' which contained authen- 
tic accounts of the much-abused battle of Navarin. Great 
noise was made I believe — and some illumination, I should 
think ; but unfortunately your humble bard was bound in 
quarantine at the time. But every thing that is born of 
time must arrive, so pratique came at last. After some 
preparation and the arrival of nearly all the English and 
Russian ships engaged, (not a Frenchman ever entered the 
port,) we received a card, to say that the officers, civil and 
military, together with the inhabitants of La Valette, had 
determined on giving a ball in commemoration of the late 
general engagement, and that they therefore requested to 
be honoured with the company of the captain and officers 
of JEL M. S. Taithorpe, at the Auberge de Provence, on the 
night of so and so. 

“ Here's your chance, my lads, for pretty women — 
Pinchit, what say you ?” 

“ 'Pon my soul, Cavendish, I wish that you would not 
take the liberty of talking to me about the women ; you 
know very well that I care nothing about them." 

His lordship set up for the character of a woman-hater, 
and still more for that of vestal purity, and made a point of 
losing his temper, (an easy thing with him,) and blushing 
very deeply when any one accused him of the slightest gal- 
lantry. One day, after asking leave to go on shore, the 
captain, seeing that he was rather a handsome fellow, added 
a little advice ; that he was foolish enough to repeat, and 
they all fell upon him. 

“ I sav, Pinchit, what did he tell you — not to get 
spooney ?” 

“ Mr. Green, I’ll thank you to keep your remarks to 
yourself; you are not on those joking terms, as you may 
know ” 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


337 

“ Nay, nav, now Baggs — don’t be so modest ; if you 
have no feeling for the fair sex, do sham a little to keep me 
in company.” 

“ I’ll thank you, sir, to hold your tongue. In the first 
place, it was a great liberty in the captain to talk to me on 
such a subject ;” this phrase, ‘ a great liberty * was Pinchit’s 
favourite ; “ and it is still more so in you to pass your re- 
marks. You know very well ” 

“ Oh, to be sure, we know all about the ’s wife ; 

ah, Pinchit, the ’s wife.” 

“ I’ll thank you to hold your tongue once more, Mr. 
Green ; you must be aware that there is no truth in any 
reports of the kind.” 

“ I dare say not, as you hate the poor women so much. 
No doubt they return the compliment to your mighty lord- 
ship ; but you know, Pinchit, that I am a most particular 
friend of yours ; and if anything should happen to you, I 
should be exceedingly distressed. Consider now, ’tis a 

most dangerous liaison ; the b ’s razors are vilely sharp 

— I hope you don’t get shaved.” 

“ Shaved, Green,” said I, “ not hairs enough on his 
chin — not hairs enough ; they only pluck him.” 

But to the ball-room. I must do this justice to the 
donors ; it was fitted up with excellent taste, the entrance- 
room being hung with the colours of the Allies ; the vaulted 
ceiling covered with the English union-jack, and the floor 
with the Turkish flag. On the right was a saloon for 
cards ; on the left, the ball and supper-rooms, the largest 
in the island. In the days of the knights, each nation had 
had so many auberges, now converted into hotels, or given 
to other uses, being, in point of size, complete palaces. 
Surmounting the orchestra over the entrance, were seen the 
three standards ; at the opposite end, something in the 
same style, but having “ Navarike ” emblazoned in gold, 
and surrounded with laurel, while the walls were hung with 
tablets, bearing indifferently the names of every ship en- 
gaged, no distinction being made. 

The decorations of the supper-room were beautiful, and 
would have excited envy in many of the fair donors of west- 
end routs. I allude simply to the orange-trees, boughs of 
z 


338 CAVENDISH ; OR 

which having been cut down, formed a complete parterre, 
where you might walk and pull the golden fruit. 

“ I say, ho, it’s a fine supper, isn’t it ?” said a mid of 
eighteen, to an old post-mate, in my hearing. 

“ Oh, well enough in its way.” 

“ Why, what’s wanting ? — what’s your civil — growl 
now ?” 

“ Oh, devil take those stingy sogers — if we'd given them 
a supper after a land set-to, I bet, they might have found 
some champagne on the tables. Who do they think is 
going to be blown out with their sour claret ? Cursed 
stuff! you might just as well drink water, for all that I see. 
No such a thing as getting drunk on it. I’ve been trying 
all this evening, and now, bad luck to me, I’m just as sober 
as a church. I suppose a fellow couldn’t get a drop of 
grog if ’twas ever so, ’cause ’tisn’t genteel. Very cold to- 
night, I think,” — the rooms were like an oven — and filling 
a tumbler with Marsala wine, which, in Malta, is two-fifths 
brandy, the mate drank it off, and staggered up to one of 
the Rifle Corps. 

Before the officer could be at all aware of what was coming, 
the mate had seized the call from his belt, and giving a 
shrill pipe, after the manner of the boatswain, roared out, — 
“ Grog ahoy ! I say there, first mess up to the tub, and 
no mistake. A pretty shame, isn’t it,” looking into the 
officer’s face, “ that a fellow can’t get drunk when he comes 
to supper ?” 

“ Ah ! old boy !” returned the other, in a good-natured 
tone, “ you must have been that for the last two hours.” 

“ It’s a fib,” retorted the naval man in a rage ; “ but 
d’you think that I’ll stay here to be insulted in this manner ? 
— no ; I’ll go to Joe’s, and there I can get regularly happy, 
without asking you anything about it. D’you call this a 
supper ? ’tisn’t half a supper, or any thing like it ; there’s 
neither rum, gin, nor champagne on the table. — Come 
along,” putting his arm inside that of the other mid, “ we 
won’t go home till morning;” and chanting this old song 
to themselves, the two mates proceeded to reel out of the 
room, where too much clamour already existed, to notice 
so simple a produce of nature as a couple of inebriated mid- 
dies. 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 339 

“ Cavendish, shall I introduce you to a partner ?” said 
the captain, coming up at this moment. 

“ I shall be most happy, sir.” 

The lady was, what a partner should be, elegant and en- 
tertaining, and at the end of the dance kindly passed me on 

to her friend, Mrs. , still more suited to my taste, and 

of whom I shall discourse hereafter. Feeling my brain op- 
pressed with the waltzing, I left the room to walk in the 
fresh air for a few minutes, when, posted on one of the 
landing-places of the stairs, who should I meet but the two 
mids. Thus far had they arrived, when the spirit of wine 
obtained a complete mastery, and they could neither advance 
nor recede, but, like a double pendulum, they took a step to 
the right, and then a step back again, muttering strange ca- 
balistic sounds to themselves, and staring with the dull, 
idiot glare of intoxication. The scene was enough to excite 
risibility in any one. I stopped and laughed. 

“ What, sir, are you laughing at ? You’re laughing at 
my friend ; he’s perfectly sober — pattern of sobriety,” 
one in rather an angry tone. 

“Yes,” retorted the other, taking it up in the same man- 
ner, “ you’re langhing at my friend ; he’s perfectly sober — 
pattern of sobriety. There’s another, too, doing the same ; 
they’re impudent fellows — they’re staring at you.” 

“No, no, they’re staring at you ; I’m sober, and you’re 
sober — let’s come away 1” 

“ So we will ; you go first.” 

“ No ; you go first.” 

“ Oh, no ; you’re senior officer.” 

“ Ay, but you’re not so nervous as I am.” 

“ Yes, but you’re of longer standing.” 

“ Come, then, we’ll both go together.” 

“ Ay, so we will and joining their arms, they took two 
steps, found they were unable to retain their proper gravita- 
tion, and back they fell into their old station. In an hour’s 
time I returned, and met them on the same spot, in the same 
predicament, staring at the passing crowd, each swearing 
that the other was sober, and both as tipsy as thieves ! 

On finally leaving the ball at three o’clock, I met, in 
Strada Reale, a starch, stiff-looking personage, whose epau- 
lettes were glistening in the rays of the moon : I advanced 

z 2 


340 CAVENDISH J OR, 

— it was Captain . My first idea was, that ne had 

quaffed too plentifully of the grape’s bright juice ; and un- 
willing therefore that he should be allowed to remain there, 
I advanced to render my assistance in leading him home. 
I was, as heretofore and since, totally in the wrong ; he was 
gazing on the placid firmament, with his hands placed palm 
to palm on his breast, and his chin resting on the tips of his 
fingers ! . 

“ Good evening, Captain ; if you are waiting for 

any one, I may take the liberty of informing you that the 
ball-room is quite deserted.” 

“ I wait for no one,” he replied, in a tone indicative of 
himself — a lackadaisical Pharisee. “ Who could refrain on 
such a night as this from holding deep commune with his 
own heart ?” 

“ I beg pardon — doubtless I intrude.” 

“ Doubtless ! — To meditate with effect, it should be in 
solitude.” 

Bowing low, I left him to enjoy his meditations. 

On the subsequent morning I was walking down Strada 
Reale, when I heard the words — “ Mr. Cavendish — Mr. 
Manvers Cavendish,” in a low, soft, winning voice from 
behind, as the gentle touch of her fairy finger was laid upon 
my shoulder. I saw her not ; and before I even heard 
those melting tones, I felt that peculiar thrill gliding to- 
wards my heart ! There is something electric in the touch 
of those we love ; or if not, there should be. It was the 

sylph-like Mrs. , my partner at the ball — my latest, 

most Platonic passion. 

I dare say, reader, you think me somewhat inconstant — 
what an error ! Allow me to explain ; there cannot be a 
greater mistake : it is from the very excess of retention, 
that my heart plunges me into these temporary counter- 
emotions. There is one feeling buried in my breast — deep, 
lost, hopeless love — Letitia ! Whenever I looked within, I 
found a seared, lone vacuum, panting to be refilled ! Before 
we indulge in this intense passion of affection, this feeling 
is in abeyance ; but when once it has had birth, it is be- 
yond controul, becoming a necessary aliment to our exist- 
ence. Thus shrinking from such a state of loneliness, I 
wore to those around the looks of levity ; and, by heedlessly 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


341 

rushing into every attachment that presented itself, endea- 
voured to efface the first impression ; this accomplished, I 
determined to engage in another. If hopeless, it would 
wear me out ; if successful, it would end with me alone. 

But now the charming Mrs. was my sole passion : 

her husband had only brought her to reside a twelvemonth 
in the island, four months of which had already expired. 
Every one informed me that she was a desperate flirt . there 
were certain platonic bounds of love to which she would 
venture with any one, but beyond — with none. This of 
course piqued my vanity ; O vanity — the devil's strongest 
claim on mortal man ! — and as a natural consequence, I 
made my advances without hesitation, but was rather inde- 
terminate as to what should be the result. She was fasci- 
nating — =£. was willing to be her slave ? giving up the sequel 
to the Sfght reins which her feelings and our fates might 
hold over it. I need not say that her spouse, Colonel 

W , had shown every wish to become my friend (Oh, 

mockery !), otherwise I had never harboured such thoughts 
respecting his partner ; and, as I pressed her hand to my 
lips while walking round the ramparts, and saw nothing like 
displeasure in her glistening blue eye, I slid to myself, 
“ Manvers Cavendish, if you do not ‘ see into your state/ 
you run the chance of turning out a villain !” “ True, most 

uneasy conscience, thou that smitest me so hard — but why 
dost not thou prevent it?” “Because, in sooth, I have not 
the power, that is to say, the will — and with this soliloquy 
I entered Micaliff’s (having parted with my fair temptress,) 
to take an ice, considering that to be the most proper thing 
in my present state of excitement. Here, among other fish 
of my genus, I met Neville, discussing lemonade, cigars, 
and some minor points of the battle, with several midship- 
men of the Albion. 

“You might be sure that fellow was one of the ‘ gentle- 
manly Talthorpes/ ” said a blackguard-looking old mate, 
who belonged to H. M. brig Coose, casting a glance at me 
as I entered. 

“ Why ?” asked his next neighbour, whose face was as 
dingy as though it had eschewed ablution for the last six 
weeks, and who, as well as the other, was drinking hot 
' rmd-water. 


342 


CAVENDISH J OR, 

“ Why ! Don’t you see he wears no shirt collar up, and 
looks as pale as a ghost, and as proud as a dog with two 
tails, shrinking off there into a corner, as though he was 
afraid to come aneist a fellow ? If that chap had as much 
manners as they say the Talthorpes have, he’d speak to an 
officer like me, so much his senior.” 

“ That I will do, certainly,” thought I. They were 
nearer to the door than myself — the bell-pull had been 
pulled to some purpose, since it was lying on the ground, 
and leaning over the table, and using my most winning 
touch of hypocrisy, as much as to say, refusal is impossible, 
I requested him to call the waiter. 

“ Oh, certainly, sir, certainly,” replied the old mate, 
surprised at my condescension ; and jumping up in such 
haste that he spilt a part of his potation, he ran to the head 
of the stairs, straining his lungs in my service till the waiter 
came. 

“ You want Beppo, Sar ?” 

“ Yes ; a tumbler full of ice, flavoured with the orange- 
flower.” 

“ Bring me some too,” said the mate. 

“ And me too,” roared his companion ; “ tell your master 
this madeira of his is devilish bad — take it away.” 

“ Bad ! you surprise me ! that which I had here for 
dinner yesterday was excellent,” bending at the same time 
towards the rejected glasses ; “ why this is rum — not 

madeira !” 

“ I meant to say rum,” returned the veracious mate, in a 
confused manner. “ I believe you never drink rum on 
board the Talthorpe ?” 

“ Rum!” and I feigned to start with horror ; “ O never !” 

I knew that some odd stories were in circulation respect- 
ing our exclusiveness, and I therefore determined to lead 
the fools still further on in the wrong scent. “ Never, I 
assure you. If one of our midshipmen were to think of 
drinking any thing less recherche than marsala- and- water, 
he would instantly have to mess by himself; but as to 
drinking common grog; the knowledge of such a thing 
would sentence the offender to leave the ship the next 
morning.” 

“ Indeed, sir ! how very genteel !” and the old mate held 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA 343 

his breath for fear “ I should like to join the Talthorpe 

very much myself — I was thinking of doing so.” 

“ You join the Talthorpe /” I exclaimed, shocked in 
reality at the prospect of having such a ragamuffin for a 
messmate. “You become one of the gentlemanly Tal- 
thorpes ! Do you know what is required to do so ?” 

“ O yes ; a vacancy, and the admiral’s order.” 

“Vacancy! — admiral’s order! — pooh! no such thing — 
mere secondary considerations. In the first place, your 
chest must contain six new suits of uniform, and three of 
mufti.* You must have the full command of three lan- 
guages ; be able to write poetry, and accompany your voice 
on the guitar. Besides several other minor points, some of 
your blood relations must own at least two rotten boroughs ; 
and your name, sir — your name, which is a paramount con- 
sideration, must have been wholly unconnected with trade 
for at least five generations. All these requisites are most 
indispensable ; and if you can unite them with a good car- 
riage and gentlemanly exterior, you may hope to get into 
the Talthorpe. What name do you happen to bear ?” 

“ Mr. Batt.” 

“ Batt ! Batt ! Never saw such a name in Debrett, nor 
heard of it elsewhere ; — involved in as much unknown dark- 
ness as night. Perfectly useless to think of joining the 
Talthorpe with such a name as Batt. What’s your father ?” 

“ A clergyman in Wales.” 

“Well, I thought as much — a Welsh curate ! Take my 
advice, you had better remain in the Goose — you are only 
fit for stuffing! — you’ll excuse my speaking the truth so 
roundly, as it were, to save you trouble, but to mislead 
any one by concealing it, is to my mind but a mistaken 
kindness.” 

“ Certainly, sir, O certainly,” said both mates in a 
breath. 

Having paid for my ice, and made the mates a low bow, 
I arose very majestically, to see what might be the all- en- 
grossing subject which engaged the gentlemen of the 
Albion, — too busy with their own affairs to notice my hum- 
ble self rhodomontading in the corner. 

“ Well, Neville, of what may you be talking ?” 

* Plain clothes. 


344 


CAVENDISH ; OR, 

“ Of smoke ? — whiff!” 

" Who will take my bet ?” cried an assistant surgeon. 

" What is it ?” 

“ Ten guineas that we receive head-money and a medal 
for Navarin ; and that the commander-in-chief is created a 
baron : moreover that the head-money will amount to thirty 
pounds for a midshipman’s share.” 

“ I think we shall have the greater part of that,” an- 
swered another ; “ but I take your bet for the risk.” It was 
accordingly made.* 

“ Who are these ?” some one inquired of me, looking 
towards the door. My eyes followed that direction, and 
beheld Pinchit enter with his cousin, and Snipe Humbug, 
who looked on all and every thing between him and the 
table spread out for his dinner, as though he could devour 
it without discrimination. 

How are you, Cavendish — how are you ?” said his 
lordship, coming up to me. 

“ Why — pretty comfortable, thank you, considering that 
I have not been on board for the last four days.” 

“ Yes, you seem to be fond of the shore ; but here is our 
dinner coming — sit down with us, will you ?” 

“ Thank you ; but I have to dine with the governor at 
seven, so excuse me.” 

“ Ah ! Neville, is it you ?” said his lordship, turning and 
beholding his political friend ; " you at any rate will sit 
down and take part of our dinner ?” 

“ I would with all my heart, Pinchit, but I have just 
dined.” 

“ Oh, never mind, sit down ; I can eat at any time, you 
know.” 

“ Perhaps you can ; and so could I ; but I have only just 
finished my cigar, and that seldom leaves an appetite.” 

“ Very well.” And down they sat. 

" Neville, I assure you that this turtle-soup is excellent. 
Try it.” 

“ No, I thank you, Pinchit.” 

“ Come, man, don’t be so squeamish ; there is plenty for 
us all.” 

“ Come, Neville, here is a chair,” re-echoed Humbug ; 

* A fac' 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 345 

and on being thus pressed, Neville took the proffered chair 
and plate of soup. 

This being finished, he was about to rise ; but Pinchit, 
detaining him by the arm, said, “ Oh, you’ll take some 
more turtle ?” 

“ None, thank you.” 

“ Well, then, a glass of champagne.” 

“ You forget that I have dined.” 

“ Yes, but a glass of champagne is a mere nothing.” 

Neville yielded, while Pinchit’ s cousin became unwell, and 
left the table. The champagne was opened, the other 
courses set upon the table. Neville again attempted to 
rise, and was again detained ; so that when I left the room, 
they were busily employed over some fruit, claret, and 
Moselle, having previously sent to secure a box at the 
opera. 

A few days after this, I happened to be on board in 
the berth, when down came Pinchit with some papers in his 
hand. 

" Here, Humbug and Neville, are your bills for the din- 
ner. My cousin, you know, was too unwell to eat any ; so 
each of you, therefore, have to pay me a third. Micaliff’s 
bill to me is ; you have therefore to pay me .” 

Neville stared, as well he might ; while Humbug, far 
from being unwilling that his guest should pay, only con- 
tended that he would not pay his share for the opera-box. 

“ Why so ?” demanded his lordship. 

“ Because I never used it.” 

“ Yes ; but you agreed that it should be engaged.” 

“ Yes, I know that ; but I never entered it. Your cousin 
was the only one of the party, besides Neville, who sat in 
it ; he is charged nothing, and I have to pay a third. I 
won’t pay a stiver.” 

They wrangled on for some time, but in vain ; Snipe 
Humbug was careful of his cash, and the other two had to 
divide it between them. 

“ Well,” said Neville to me, “his lordship certainly im- 
proves upon custom ; we have all been told of the lawyer 
who charged for his time ; but this is a case unique, of a 
man being pressed to dine, and then being pressed to pay 
for it.” 


346 CAVENDISH ; OR, 

Shortly subsequent to this noble transaction, we were re- 
joiced to hear that our caterer, Twyndle, had obtained his 
commission ; and though the mess lost considerably by this 
event, there were none in it that did not participate in his 
feelings of joy. Among other wonderful proofs of this, 
was a dinner given by Pinchit and Cantall to the new lieu- 
tenant at Joe’s. The hour was six, and on Twyndle’s re- 
pairing to the noble pair, he chanced to have a couple of 
friends with him, late of the Cvmbrian, who, like himself, 
had been promoted but a slight time since. 

Having introduced them to the dinner- donors, he asked 
them to sit down and partake of the meal ; for being of a 
most liberal and generous temperament himself, he never 
dreamt of any objection. The master was very smooth, 
and whatever he thought, it did not appear ; but Pinchit 
looked rather sour, considering it was “ a great liberty.” 

“ Well, old , you’ve managed to get invalided; 

how did you do it ? ” 

“ Oh, sir, I gave them a little palaver : one of the skip- 
pers asked me what was the matter, and so I said to him 

“ In truth, Captain , I think it was this ; one 

day I forgot to drink a glass of grog at seven bells, (half an 
hour before noon,) and d — me if I don’t think that my liver 
got a-ground, for, some how or other, I’ve never been well 
since.” 

The dinner passed off very jovially with all, save Pinchit ; 
and Twyndle’s friends happening to get rather merry over 
the dessert, they threw one piece of orange-peel too much 
(or something equally weighty) across the table, and Pin- 
chit chose to make this a pretext for his subsequent con- 
duct. 

The following evening we were all on board, talking over 
with Twyndle the delights of a first arrival in England, after 
his promotion, when Pinchit, after fumbling in his desk for 
half an hour, and casting sundry uneasy glances round the 
berth, opened his budget with his late guest, according to 
custom, in the following manner. 

“ O, Twyndle, — Cantall and myself asked you to dine with 
us yesterday.” 

“Yes, I remember it ; and the dinner would have been 
much better if those rascals had iced the wine longer.” 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


347 

“ Yes, but I was going to remark, that by your asking 
those two friends to sit down with you, it increased the num- 
ber from three to five ; the charge has been in proportion : 

I was therefore about to suggest the two-fifths extra ” 

“ Well, my lord, this is most certainly a new mode of giv- 
ing your friends a turn-out. Pray — since you are so minute 
— do put down the exact quantity of salt and potatoes for 
each.” 

Pinchit bit his lip, and the blood mantled his cheek with 
rage and shame, as he returned, — 

“ Surely, sir, when I ask you to dinner, I have no right 
to expect that you will bring two friends/’ 

“It is utterly immaterial, my lord. To such a dirty, 
paltry, mode of proceeding, I offer neither argument nor 
objection. Make out your bill, like any other innkeeper, 
and the amount shall be paid, on your signing a receipt/’ 
After some further altercation, his lordship locked his 
desk, and strode away. Various remarks were made upon 
the soul of disinterestedness which the noble barterer must 
possess, and the following jeu d’ esprit having been hastily 
scribbled by myself, by way of an ode, it was affixed to the 
desk-place over-head, tenanted by his lordship, but was re- 
moved before his return, as likely to breed a quarrel. 

ODE TO BARON BAGGS. 

Here Pinchit lives, 

Though born a lord, he’s turn’d restaurateur, 

And many a dashing dinner gives, 

With champagne and liqueur. 

Here turtles hot — and tempers too, 

(The turtles, mind, are soups,) 

With game and beccaficoes, who 
They say were shot in groupes. 

As well as all the dainties which 
Within this island are, 

Nay, you may order (if you're ricli) 

The pate a foie gras. 

Then come all ye whose tastes invite, 

To share this great lord’s bounty. 

His dining-hour is six at night, 

But later will not count t’ye. 

If after this you chance to go. 

You’ll be upon the shelf, 

He’s such a gourmand, (this you know,) 

He’ll eat it all himself. 


348 


CAVENDISH ; OR 


I’ve only one thing more to add, 

To all who may be willing, 

They’ll rue it sadly, those who gaa 
To him without their shilling. 

This noble’s ways are so divine, 

(’Tis true he gives some trouble,) 

With him most sumptuously you’ll dine,— 
— But then you’ll pay him double. 

Next time when you are passing by 
The Strada del Theatro, 

The following sign must strike your eye, 
Just o’er the number “ quatro.” 

“ Pinchit and MicalifF are here, 

(The first’s milor Inglesi,) 

Both setting up a house of cheer, 

Pray step in, it may please ’e. 

In doing this, they truly feel,” 

(This last their hand-bills say,) 

‘ No house can give so good a meal, 

If people will but pay. 

Another score on which they’re proud, 

Is of their high connexions ; 

My lord himself owns many a crowd, 

In numerous directions. 

While all his cousins, and his friends, 

Come here to stuff and squabble ; 

My humble self, to make amends, 

Will introduce the rabble.” 

Well brother-taverners may pray 
To send them to perdition ; 

What house can bear up ’gainst the sway 
Of such a coalition ? 

Say they, we cheat — but what of that ? 

’Tis right to serve our ends ; 

But these two rogues are getting fat 
By feeding on their friends. 

While we must humbly wait the choice, 
Acceptance or negation ; 

Those two ne’er wait the asking voice, 

But send the invitation. 

And while his name, the great milord, 
Leaves neither power nor will, 

They dine ashore, he goes on board. 

And then gives in his bill. 

Yet, doubtless, ’tis a house most meet, 

To make man’s heart feel gay, 

Long may such lords then live to eat, 

And commons live to pay J 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


349 


CHAPTER XLI. 

m 

As for your mistress, quoth he, you’ll have but a hard task at first: 
you must manage her with policy, whereof I know you to have suffi- 
cient ; however, a little instruction cannot be amiss. I would advise 
you, therefore, not to let her know your design at your first admittance, 
that being certainly the way to lose her; but rather to keep her in 
suspense till you have a convenient opportunity to make your addresses, 
and till you have sufficiently won upon her by your conversation, which 
I dare promise you’ll soon do. Translation of M. Scarron. 

Weeks — months had flitted by. My passion for Mrs. 

seemed on the high road to happiness, alias ruin, when I 
received a billet, written in her own light, witty style, de- 
siring me to be under her window at eleven that evening, 
for I had received the note before noon. 

Young, giddy, thoughtless, foolish as I was, it was not 
without much compunction, and several misgivings, that I 
found myself retracing my steps at Palermo ; and as this 
thought came across me, I demanded of my inner man 
what might be the fate of the lovely and still dear Mar- 
chesa. Thrusting the billet into my pocket, I determined 
not to keep the appointment, but rather to obtain leave and 
visit Sicily. By degrees, and unconscious of what I was 
doing, I drew forth the temptation, and began to read it 
anew. It was cleverly indited : the incense to self-love was 
softly mingled. Strange that so much should lie in arrang- 
ing figures upon paper ! Well, I must own that it would 
be wrong in me to break in upon poor Francesca’s retreat. 
I doubt not that she has forgotten me — unworthy to be re- 
membered ; and I alone must bear the bitter sting of me- 
mory. Besides, it would be ungrateful, unkind, inattentive 

to Mrs. to stay away, when her husband, poor soul ! 

will be dining out this evening, and she expects to have a 
head- ache ; but, ah ! they pipe to dinner — I will reflect. 

Having drank a few extra glasses of wine, in order to 
come to a sober decision, I stretched myself on the lockers, 
and dropped asleep. 

The shades of night shed their gloom around me, and I 
traced my way to the appointed spot. Mrs. — — — was 


350 CAVENDISH ; OR, 

waiting* in the garden. Some strange fancy prompted us 
to take a ramble, which terminated at the Barachii.* We 
stood beneath its columns, gazing on the sea far below, and 
then looking on the tombs around us, where power and 
pomp lay hushed in death. Suddenly a fhunder- cloud, 
which had been slowly gathering, discharged its electric 
contents, accompanied by a violent squall of wind, which in 
a few seconds amounted to a hurricane. 

The scene was one wide blaze of fury and destruction ; 
the ships lying at their anchors a few moments before in 
fancied security, were borne on the bosoms of the enraged 
billows and dashed against the abrupt shore. Earth seemed 
rocking to its foundation ; the perpendicular height of the 
Barachii began to give way — it descended — frantically the 
fragile form beside me clung to my bosom — remorse and 
dismay seemed to have quenched my every faculty. Frag- 
ment after fragment of the massive work parted — Nature 
appeared to be sinking into her primeval chaos — one uni- 
versal crash was heard. We descended into a deep chasm, 
whose wide disjointed sides were about to close on us for 
ever, when one of the mightiest spirits that rode the whirl- 
wind approached, and at his flaming presence the nodding 
ruins were arrested in their fall. His celestial countenance 
was expressive of the greatest wrath, and striking me on 
the shoulder with his wand, he exclaimed in a voice of fury, 
“ Plase, Mr. Cavendish, it's eight bells — time to relieve the 
deck.” 

Did my eyes actually rest upon the venerable countenance 
of the old quarter- master ? They did. Never in mv life 
have I felt more joy than was mine at that momente 
“ Thank Heaven, it is only a hideous dream. Old man, I 
am coming. Boy, give the quarter-master a glass of grog. 
Send Stowell aft here.” 

My servant came. “ Get my washing traps and looking- 
glass laid out, for I am going on shore.” 

“ Manvers Cavendish, you are a downright positive fool ! 
Well, well, Mr. Reason, perhaps so ; and had it been for 
aught beside, I would have stayed on board; but as a 
lovely woman is in the case, I must go ; no harm can 

* The summit of a rock at Malta, used as a cemetery for illustrious 
dead — a petty Westminster Abbey. 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


351 


result from merely going ashore. As for that dream, it 
was intended for a warning — as such I take it. Besides, 
how silly to be swayed by dreams ! O vanity and vexation 
of spirit ! — I will, I must ask leave, I suppose — and I 
sought my way to Willstand, — for Straw having left the 
ship, the former was now first-lieutenant, and as much liked 
and esteemed in this capacity as in any other, plainly proving 
that the blame is not in the office but the man. 

When Straw left the ship, we all agreed to go on the 
quarter-deck, and give three cheers of joy at getting rid of 
him ; which he, the fool, took as a compliment paid to him- 
self : and I believe that the men were overheard expressing 
the same intention ; such was the universal hatred and con- 
tempt which this man had earned. He was always vulgar, 
except before his immediate superiors, where his cunning 
made him appear a totally different character ; and had it 
not been for the fore-knowledge of his falsehood and double 
dealing, there were many moments when you might have 
deemed him honest-hearted, blunt, and friendly. To those 
aware of the depths of his deceit, this only made a more re- 
volting feature in his character. He was a third-rate 
Richard, unstained, of course, by any actual crime, save 
tyranny, but wholly unredeemed by any talents or nobility 
of soul ; and his greatest excuse lies in this — he was a 
weak, bigoted fool ; and, as the service is constituted at 
present, such a creature, even as a lieutenant, ever has it in 
his power to do an infinity of almost irremediable evil. It 
is not sufficient that a checking power should be placed in 
the hands of a superior — these are not the men who suffer. 
The junior officers should also have some rein.* Wise 
old Romans ! — they who had their tribunes as well as their 
consuls. 

Having obtained leave, I once more found myself toiling 
up that horrid flight of steps, the Strada San Giovanni. 
Light as dreams may seem, they always have some weight 
with us, despite ourselves. Had I listened to that which 
my heart suggested, I should have turned back, and gone 
on board. A sense of impending evil oppressed me ; it is 
a pity I turned into Savario’s — the fumes of cigars afforded 
no relief. I ascended into the billiard-room ; a crowd of 

* See note the fifth, on Naval Reform, at the end of this volume. 


352 CAVENDISH ; OR, 

Russian and English officers were squandering their money 
health and time. 

I again sought the shades below. Here I met ; we 

finished a bottle of life’s elixir — champagne. " Blue devils, 
I have conquered ye at last !” and with a fresh cigar, I rose 
to retire to my rooms and dress. 

“ Ah, Mr. Cavendish,” said of the Rifles, entering, 

who would have been a very good sort of being, had he 
possessed a little less conceit, 4 4 d — n me, if I didn’t posi- 
tively mistake you !” passing his glass to his eye, and re- 
viewing my outward man, as though I had been a file of his 
underlings. “How devilish well you dress for a naval 
officer ! Ton my soul, I took you for a military man in 
mufti.” 

It was only a few evenings before that I heard this man 
remark to some of his fellow-green-dragons, that “ the ball 
would have been dev’lish good, since the women were well 
painted ; but there were too many midshipmen.” 

I was prevented at the moment from making any reply, 
but determined to give my gentleman a rap on the knuckles 
the first opportunity. Here it was, — the room was filled 
with officers of both services, and this silly speech, in his 
usual drawl, had attracted attention. Drawing myself up, 
and retreating two paces, while I raised my glass in return, 
after a scrutinizing glance, let it fall, and repeated in a tone 
of contempt — “ A military man ! I wish, sir, to be taken for 
a gentleman, and not for a military man.” Turning on my 
heel, I walked into the street, amidst a burst of laughter 
from the naval cavaliers. Some silly young Hotspur near 
him, “ who sat on thorns until he killed his man,” whis- 
pered something about a duel : he laughed, and replied, as 
I should have done myself, “ Damme, you see these things 
must be passed over ; the fellow has more wit than good 
manners and on the strength of this we were very good 
friends next day. 

I had no sooner entered my rooms than all my spleen re- 
turned ; the wine had evaporated, and I was fain to have 
recourse to my favourite remedy, walking off to the opera. 
Nothing acts so well with me, or with more certain effect 
than music. When this fails I am prepared to experience 
the utmost rigour of an indefinite period of blue devilism. 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


353 


It lias always appeared unaccountable to my comprehension, 
how men should be found lost to the delights of these four 
senses, — a love for the harmony of words, the harmony of 
sounds, the harmony of colouring, the luxury of perfume — 
no man, I conclude, can be insensible to the charms of wo- 
man, or I should place them first. 

We all remember the singular passage in Gibbon, in 
which the historian describes the tastes of Mahomet. After 
noting that great conqueror's patriarchal simplicity, he re- 
marks, that perfume and the blandishments of female 
society were the only relaxations of that austere mind. — 
“ In these harmless delights, &c.” 

And yet I have met human beings totally wanting in 
these, the finer feelings of the soul. What sort of an exist- 
ence can it be to them ? A mere dull routine of eating, 
drinking, sleeping, toiling; grief cannot refine, and bliss 
can scarcely warm them ; but worse than all is a loveless 
woman — a cold, phlegmatic, calculating, passionless female ! 
If plain, it matters not,— but if beautiful, how is loveliness 
lavished ! 

I have already mentioned, or perhaps I have not — forget- 
ful creature ! — that the note from Mrs. informed me 

that she had no idea of being more easily won than an 
Italian mistress, and therefore demanded the tribute of a 
song before admission. I originally intended to give her 
some very gallant effusion ; but the champagne, the cigars, 
and the stately and tragic opera, quite changed the tone of 
my feelings. I had some idea of selecting one of Satan 
Montgomery’s blank verse meditations — and chanting it by 
way of lecture to the air, “ John Brown is dead, that good 
old man but second consideration convinced me, that like 
the rest of the world, (the author included,) she could never 
comprehend it ; and I therefore preferred something more 
about love (though slightly reproving) and less duskied by 
lore, and with the due accompaniments of time and place, I 
commenced the following. 

TO . 

Lovely, inconstant, fickle, yet fond, 

Who could resist the soft spell of thy bond ? 

If thou wert firm to the web which thou weaves!, 

Loving the hearts thou so wantonly grievest; 

2 A • 


354 


CAVENDISH ; OK, 

But thy lurements though witching, are still most untrue, 

And falsehood is ever remembered with you, 

Ensnaring the soul’s best affections at morn, 

To blight them ere eve with derision and scorn. 

“ That, sir, is left for me to do,” was accented by a fierce 
whisper in my ear. The window above closed with a slight 
cry. I reversed my position, and found myself confronted 
with Colonel , he who claimed some exclusive privi- 

leges with the fair sinner above, by right of marriage. 

“ How do you define gratitude, sir ?” he demanded of 
me with a truly uxorious look and tone. 

“ Oh, g — ratitude, to be sure,” I answered, carelessly 
sounding the third string. 

“ Sir, you are a scoundrel !” answered the incensed hus- 
band, producing a rapier from beneath his cloak. 

“I rather regret,” said I, “not being able to assist in 
your amusement, as I came ashore to night solely equipped 
for love, and not for murder. If, however, you prefer play- 
ing a duet to a solo, I’ll thank you for a weapon. 

* Ho you make a mock of my dishonour ?” cried the ex- 
asperated colonel : and before I could defend myself, I found 
his sword — that disagreeable compound of iron and carbon 
— inserted at some three inches on the right of my neck, 
and protruding at an odiously awkward place, inasmuch as 
it set my teeth on edge when the point of it grated past my 
shoulder blade. 

I swooned, I believe ; for the next reminiscence after 
feeling the thrust, was that of finding myself stretched on 
the earth, with the operator kneeling beside me, entreating, 
with a most penetential voice, that I would not die just yet. 

“ Positively, sir, your kindness is of the most piercing, 
overpowering description ; so much so, that I am about to 
faint under it. Before I go, however, I must express my 
satisfaction that you killed me unarmed, for Captain Sawyer 
having lately been kind enough to get us a fencing-master 
on board, it would be a most mortifying reflection in my 
last moments, that any instruction had been thrown away 
on me. Nothing, sir, has ever been so lost, except a kind 
and sincere heart, which has nevertheless led its owner into 
a thousand follies, making at least two foes for each ; but 
envy, jealousy, and spite, might do as much for any man — 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


355 

this is my last. Tis just that I should lie here, and not 
you. You have my forgiveness, I see I am possessed of 
your’s — adieu.” 

A prayer passed over my lips, and dissolution over m} 
heart, — at least I thought so. But I was mistaken, for I 
awoke and found myself in a paradise certainly : but it was 
something like that of Mahommed — that bright blue eye of 
watchfulness and care now looking into mine — whose was 
it ? Mrs. ’s. 

For three days, I am told, I gave no signs of life. I was 
in no small degree insulted, when a villanous carpenter 
came with his three-feet rule and took my dimensions, 
while the orbs I loved looked on with tears. 

Right well I guessed how affairs were going, and was 
next evening comforted, by seeing my coffin put under my 
bed. I am easily led, but never will be driven. I deter- 
mined to get well directly ; and, calling youth to my aid, 

I rallied next morning, disappointed the pill-builders, and 
pall- bearers, and sent my wooden surtout back upon the 
hands of the maker, as not fitting. 

Poor Colonel ! his generous heart was unfit to cope 

with the guilty deceit of this sinning world. He dreamt 
not that I could let passion so far overcome principle, as to 
betray him, and therefore placed no sort of obstacle to the 
constant intercourse between bis wife and myself. I did 
not think that I should have fallen ; but (O word of omen !) 
my wound every now and then gave me a severe twinge, 
and forced me to remember that he had inflicted it on an 
unarmed youngster, — and then she was so fair — and sung 
with such irresistible feeling — so full of witchery — and I 
was so completely in the power of chance — too ill to fly 
from danger, and exposed to the full influence of her allure- 
ments. How soon were passed those hours ! Well, I will 
not say whose fault it mostly was — mine, I suppose. I 
only know the result, and remember it with compunction ; 
it was settled that we should fly, and our project merely 
waited for my returning health. But there were many 
causes to retard that ; and for the last fortnight I had ob- 
served a considerable change in the behaviour of Mrs. 

towards myself. 

One evening Colonel entered my room, and with a 

2 a *2 


356 CAVENDISH ; OR, 

face expressive of great anguish, silently seated himself near 
me. Conscience induced me to dread what was forth- 
coming, until suspense was ended by his breaking silence. 

“ When did you see Mrs. last ?” 

“ Yesterday evening : ] was beginning to fear that she 
might be unwell.” 

‘‘No, my dear friend ; but I have come to make you all 
the reparation in my power.” 

I was startled. 

“ I have wronged you,” he continued, “ deeply wronged 
you. Sorrow for it is all that remains in my power, and I 
do grieve that so worthless a woman should ever have 
raised a difference between us. Mrs. left her hus- 

band’s roof and quitted the island this morning, under the 
protection of Captain , of the — regiment, for Leg- 

horn.” 

How many feelings struggled within me at this intelli- 
gence ! Rage, remorse, relief, contempt. 

“ I thank you,” he added, “ for the sympathy which that 
flush of indignation bespeaks ; and my heart, though torn 
and bleeding, must acknowledge that the ties which bind 
me to aught so vile were better rent asunder, even though 
life were wrenched away with them. Nothing now remains 
for me but to proceed to England and get a divorce. Her 
own deeds will prove her direst punishment.” Saying 
which, he arose and left the room. 

Who says that the path of guilt has any pleasure to make 
sweet its gall ? Go — life and fate are duly portioned out ; 
you may cull its fairest rose, but the fellest thorns lie hid 
beneath the flower. 

My wound was healed. I returned to my duty. 


CHAPTER XLII. 

At last that most brilliant speech appeared, that chef- 
d’ oeuvre of statesmanship, which gave us to understand that 
we had been hazarding our lives, and all that makes life 
bearable, in an untoward cause. And what was this cause ? 
To restore Greece to independent freedom, — Greece, the 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


357 


birth-place of science, the venerated land of greatness, the 
illustrious home of mind, to that rank among the nations of 
Europe which her former days and present sufferings de- 
manded. This had been accomplished, and the measures 
by which it had been so achieved were now loaded with 
opprobrium : and why ? because it suited the party views 
of some dozen men, whose names will go down to posterity 
as having misruled their country with as little talent and as 
much despotism as any ministers of modern times. But 
nevertheless, there is no great discrepancy to be traced 
betwixt men and their measures. 

Who could expect a dolt to own a kindred sympathy with 
science ? Who could expect a mere passing nine- days’ 
wonder, a man who has outlived his transient reputation, to 
feel any thing but jealousy for the shades of heroes, whose 
existence is now and ever ? And lastly, who could expect 
a man born and bred in the very core of tyrannous lust, to 
advocate the principles of freedom from the pure love of 
liberty alone, unbought by bribery — unswayed by selfish 
interests ? No one. Neither then, by inference, could you 
expect free and liberal measures to emanate from the late 
Tory administration. Justice, one would have thought, 
might sway them. — Bah ! she never had the slightest claim 
on them . — We were now thrown aside, “ the broken tools 
which tyrants cast away,” and, instead of expected honours 
and head-money, we received unmerited and inconsistent 
blame from a pack of boobies, “ who ne’er singed a single 
inky diplomatic whisker.” Rage and disappointment suc- 
ceeded the full-blown hopes that the king’s (George IV.) 
former conduct had excited. Every where our eyes were 
taunted by seeing the decoration of the cross awarded by the 
Emperor of Russia to his officers ; and a report reached us, 
that the king of France, besides giving one to his own 
subjects, had offered an honour to the English, and that it 
had been refused. Every one felt that he belonged to a 
neglected service, and that he had the supreme honour of 
serving a master less grateful than any other sovereign in 
Europe. Discontent was universal. 

In furling sails, I had the duty of forecastle midshipman, 
and observing that the men on the main topsail-yard were 
getting before us, and that we stood a chance of being 


358 


CAVENDISH ; OR, 

beaten by the rest of the shipping in the harbour, I became 
anxious to avert such disgrace from my shoulders : “ Fore- 
topsail yard there, stir yourselves will you, and beat the 
main-topmen — gather more of it into the bunt — come make 
haste, make haste !” but it was all in vain ; they dawdled 
over it most provokingly ; when, jumping on the bowsprit, 
I exclaimed, “ Fore-topmen, you * untoward ’ set of rascals, 
will you furl that sail ?” 

* € Hurrah, my hearties I” burst forth from every man, 
and in a few seconds the sail was furled : the main- top- 
men soon followed, and every vessel in the harbour was left 
behind. 

I had now nearly served the appointed time of probation, 
namely six years, and was beginning to long for my lieu- 
tenancy. It was true, I had rendered the service no greater, 
nor, indeed, so much benefit as many who hopelessly sighed 
for a commission : and that there were many men who had 
been ten years in the service when I first entered it, who 
were still in the same rank as on that dav, men almost old 
enough to be my father. All this was true ; but what of 
that ? I had a very good fortune of my own, and larger 
ones coming to me, and was therefore perfectly independent 
of his Majesty's navy ; whereas ninety pounds a -year to 
these men, who had so hardly earned it, would have been 
an inestimable blessing, allowing them to close their short- 
ened days in peace. 

But what of all this ? Was Manvers Cavendish, the heir 
to a marquisate, to lose a single instant of his aristocratic 
time ? to loiter a moment longer than was inevitable in the 
mire of a midshipman’s berth, when he might be advancing 
to the higher rank of a post-captain, a gentle prelude to 
commanding a three-decker, as admiral, and dating the dis- 
patch of a victory while the shattered hulks of thirty of the 
enemy’s line were lying around him ? Forbid it Heaven ! 
not while his family could command ten rotten horrors in 
the house of corruption. No, let plebeian mortals who 
claim merit for their crest go to the devil, — what are they to 
me ? Six months more, and I should be drawing quarterly 
bills for thirty pounds each — monstrous sum ! 

From this I was led to think of all my past loves. I grew 
hypochondriacal, and commenced filling my nostrils with 


THE PATKTnjAN AT SEA. 


359 

powdered tobacco: this, in some measure, compensated for 
the severe strokes of fortune which I had sustained ; but a 
rainy day came on, bringing with it an unusual fit of blue 
devils, when Letitia rose to my imagination as a pure and 
stainless creature, too fresh, too immaculate ever to belong 
to such a being as myself, even though all other obstacles 
were removed; — while the fair Sicilian, her soul all tender- 
ness and love, her cheek decked with premature beauty, 
prophetic of the grave, seemed reproachfully to say, “ False 
one ! have you so soon flung by my memory, like a faded 
flower ? — me the deserted of all !” It was too much for 
me. I lit a cigar ; this increased my sensibility, and walk- 
ing in the captain's cabin, the first book that I stumbled 
against was the Golden Ass of Apuleius, with the story of 
Cupid and Psyche : that was flung aside for Rosseau's He- 
loise, and after reading a few pages, I fell to my old amuse- 
ment, like pious ^Eneas, and began to weep. 

The captain kindly asked me if I was unwell. “Yes, sir, 
very much so — horridly hipped — the surgeon recommends 
change of air.” He took the hint, and the following day I 
was on my road to Palermo and Naples. Having landed at 
the former, and in some measure stilled the palpitation of 
my heart, by the internal application of Chateau Margot, I 
took horse and rode forth upon the Marina. 


CHAPTER XLIII. 

Tis over ; and her lovely cheek is now 
On her hard pillow — Rogers’ ItajY. 

But she is nothing — wherefore is he here ? Corsair. 

Every object around me spoke rather of an absence of half 
an hour than three years. The same glowing tint upon the 
sky marked where the sun had sunk to rest ; the same loved 
light fell upon the same wide tide of carriages, rolling 
rapidly along, one continuous stream, bearing the full blaze 
of Sicilian beauty within. All was unchanged, except my 
heart, where desolation brooded over the ruins of affection. 
This was the spot where, night after night, 1 used to meet 
the soft marchesa. There was the very fountain near which 


CAVENDISH J OR, 


360 

I used to spring into her carriage ! — could such a scene have 
passed away for ever ? My sinking pulse foreboded “ yes.” 
As I rode on, many and many were the eyes that spoke of 
conscious power and resistless love ; but those I so eagerly 
sought, were not to be seen. Once I caught a glimpse Oi 
the marchese’s well-known coat-of-arms, and dashing my 
spurs into my horse’s flanks, I passed the vehicle, hut it 
contained an elderly woman alone. For an instant, so in- 
tense was my belief, my hope that I should meet her, that I 
was tempted to believe, like the sleeper in the Arabian 
Nights, that this must be the object of my love, on whom 
age had laid his finger. But the next moment I aban- 
doned the insane idea, and, giving my steed the rein, we did 
not pause until an abrupt hill was before us. That sur- 
mounted, on we fled once more ; the bitter pangs that 
raged within absorbed all attention, and it was only when 
night had made some considerable advance that I came 
sufficiently to myself, to consider where in the name of 
fortune I was going. 

A venerable, majestic building, over which the stream of 
time had rushed in vain, stood before me. Having dis- 
mounted and placed some money in the porter’s hand, I 
entered, intending to give my horse a feed, and to allow 
myself some slight respite, before I returned to seek Fran- 
cesca in Palermo. My directions being given, I followed 
the floating sound of vocal harmony, that came borne by 
the light breeze, and found myself in the convent chapel of 
St. Rosalie. I leaned in the shadow of a clustered column ; 
and, while the other parts of the building were in a blaze ot 
light, in honour of some of the imposing ceremonies of the 
Roman Catholic church, near me, and unaware of my pre- 
sence, were a knot of spectators. 

“ So she’s dead at last, poor penitent !” said one in a 
tone of deep commiseration. 

“ Yes,” answered another, “ though it wrings the heart 
to say so — so young — so beautiful ! How could a heart 
like her’s have any grief sufficient to weigh her down to the 
grave r 

“ ’Tis hard to tell ; they say her husband broke her heart. 
This was her dreary prison for near three years — a trifling 
error too for such a doom.” 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 36 

“ Ah ! it seems to tell like some sad tale. What was 
the story ?" 

" It was never clearly known, and bruited little ; an 
English officer, her husband's jealousy, some tale of murder 
mingled in between, is all that I could ever gather. Death 
found him out ; but as for this poor bud, here was the den 
wherein she drooped — -the world believed the report that 
she was mad." 

“ But did she never dwell upon the past ?" 

“ But very little. Her phrenzy wore a silent mood. At 
first she raved of falsehood in the world, and cold desertion ; 
but the heart soon moulds itself to suffering — calmness came, 
and grief was mellowed to regret. She lived to think that 
all was right, and then she died." 

“ Of what then did she die ?" 

“ Some say her lungs were diseased ; but most believe it 
was her heart which broke." 

“ Tell me, tell me," I cried, grasping the shoulder of the 
last speaker, unable to bear the suspense any longer, “ of 
whom do you speak ?" 

The person I had addressed stared in my face. “ And 
is it possible you can be ignorant that these are the 

funereal rites of the celebrated Marchesa de , once 

the fairest ?" 

I heard no more — morning found me still within the 
walls of the convent. I gathered sufficient from the in- 
mates to assure me that life had closed under as deep and 
harrowing affliction as Earth can witness, or Heaven inflict. 
I stole to her grave, jealous even of the stone that would 
not suffer me to take a parting kiss. She could not live, 
and not be loved. 

As a testimony of esteem for the departed, the sister- 
hood had scattered over her tomb the latest flowrets of the 
expiring year. Stooping, I plucked a rosebud from the rude 
garland of grief, and placing it in my bosom, hurried from 
the spot. 

Had I only arrived a week earlier, I might have closed 
those lustrous eyes, perhaps have rescued her for some slight 
space from the inexorable fangs of death ! and yet, thought 
I, — my heart is justly wrung. Religion, and a mind recon- 
ciled to itself, shed their tranquillizing influence round her 


362 CAVENDISH ; OR, 

dying pillow. Far better than the hand of feverish and un- 
hallowed love. She is at rest for ever ! 

On arriving in Palermo, the first thing that I procured was 
a dose of hemlock, for I had been surfeited with laudanum, 
and it now produced a delirium amounting almost to madness. 
I then hastened on board a vessel about to sail, took the nar- 
cotic, shut myself in my cabin, nor awoke till we arrived in 
Naples. It was true that I thus avoided the rack of 
memory ; but sleep brought not oblivion. The visions 
of night were, even more harassing than waking realities. 
How dire is the glimpse which this gives one of death ! 
How inexpressibly beautiful is that passage in Hamlet's 
soliloquy ! 

Having plunged into every dissipation of this most dis- 
sipated place, I returned to my ship more shattered in 
health and spirits than when I first set out : — so much for 
change of air ! 

We were on the point of sailing ; the berth was rather 
in what I call a predicament. All the oldsters had quitted 
the ship for promotion, and the younger ones, who at first 
had been kept in too tightly, were now disengaged from all 
controul ; and — having grown up to that most disagreeable 
estate — hobbadehoyism, when boys, whose precocity extends 
not to their minds, take more to themselves than manhood 
would demand — each wanted to rule, but none to yield. 
Such characters now formed the greater part of the mess, 
and instead of the good-nature and fun which distinguished 
it in the days of Twyndle and Roy, you met with nothing 
but pert self-sufficiency on beardless chins, and one eternal 
series of bickering and quarrels. Batt, the worthy before 
commemorated, had joined long since, and as I expected 
from the fellow's exterior, proved a low, illiterate, conceited 
brute. Having more time of service than any other officer 
in the berth, he was chosen caterer, the end of which was 
to accumulate a debt on shore, and until this was paid, we 
were not allowed to take any live stock to sea. But this was 
not his worst feature. His was a character that truckled to 
any one who happened, in his homely conceptions — ideas he 
had none — to rank somewhat higher than the honest Welsh 
curate. Thus he annulled the slight restraint his age would 
have possessed by conversing with his juniors on any sub- 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 363 

ject, however improper, and showing an example the very 
reverse of that which Captain Sawyer expected of him. 

As I looked round the dinner-table, I could hardly per- 
suade myself that it was the same ship ; so many alterations 
had taken place, which I must now notice for the last time. 
Roy, Twindle, Guy, Pruning, and Dalzell, had all obtained 
their merited promotion, the latter of whom was the second 
master, a kind-hearted, generous, blunt being. Clare, Mon- 
tague, and Goldsmith were in a happier state. Regent and 
Jennings had left the ship before the action — Thread and 
Neville subsequent to it, during my absence on leave. 
Others had supplied their places, and some remained; 
among the rest. Green, who continued to grow in stature 
and satire, whilst warmth of feeling still peeped out : in 
other words, he increased a little perhaps in causticity, and 
became rather more reserved. His feeling had ever lain in 
a different vein from the rude amusements around him : 
books, and the society of those ashore, to whom the young 
heart clings, were evidently more to his taste. Like the 
generality of his messmates, his rank insured his rise, but 
I am inclined to think that he will not sink into that mist of 
oblivion which hovers over the early epaulettes of some of 
his compeers. 

Jack Hearty was Jack Hearty to the last. Harry cf the 
Cymbrian still remained the kind, unpretending, and esti- 
mable being that he ever was. Calling also was unchanged. 
Bigot grew more stupid and conceited than ever. Ducabore 
as pedandic and interfering, but on the whole a little less 
disagreeable ; while Lord Pinchit, alias Old Baggs, alias the 
Marquis de la Gourmandise, grew more stingy and insuffer- 
able every week. 

In the gun-room, however, they had improved as much 
as our mess had deteriorated. Stretcher, after being pro- 
moted, had died the death of a tyrant : he expired in agony, 
being previously speechless for days, and he now lies in a 
well-merited grave ; while I doubt not that his worthy com- 
peer Straw will meet some similar end. Let all such crea- 
tures have the words of Sheridan before their eyes, “A 
tyrant against man is a libeller on God.” I have already 
noticed the rise of Willstand to be first-lieutenant, and the 
esteem he continued to win from all ; since the more exalted 


364 CAVENDISH ; OR, 

the situation in which he is placed, the greater will be the 
lustre it receives from his talents ; and well -deserved pro- 
motion cannot alight on an officer more likely to benefit his 
country, or be an honour to the service. Portland — the 
honourable and refined — I have before mentioned as second- 
lieutenant ; while junior to him, as third, came Talmo, by 
no means his inferior in point of worth and gentlemanly 
feeling ; Pruning gave every satisfaction as surgeon ; the 
purser was still every now and then short of dips ; while 
L.L.B., the master, let his tongue flow on as happy in its 
bent as ever, somewhat grieved, it must be confessed, that 
he no longer had Neville in his power to calumniate and 
abuse. 

With regard to Captain Sawyer, it would be needless for 
me to remark, after the numerous opportunities which the 
reader has had of judging for himself, that his abilities com- 
manded respect from his equals, and honour from his supe- 
riors, while his rank and influence in society insures no slight 
advancement to the interests of his profession. He ever 
consulted the real advantage of his youngsters before their 
ill-judged wishes ; and this, in their eyes, took from him 
part of the praise that is justly his due. As the service is 
constituted at present, it often becomes the interest of junior 
officers to betray and deceive their suneriors ; and however 
strict, impartial, and enlightened a captain may be, such are 
the chains of useless custom, whi'ffi ;l<jg the izore). institu- 
tions and internal regulation of a man-ol-war, that he will 
not escape without frequently punishing in one place, when 
Strict justice would have inflicted chastisemtnt in another. 
Until some reform takes place, and a captain is enabled to 
see and judge for himself, what his officers. are, and what 
they are not, he will be in the situation of two parties fight- 
ing in a dark room, wounding fronds as well as foes. For 
it should be remembered, that even if youngsters are not 
really vicious and intractable, very little oppression and mis- 
placed punishment will so render them. 

It was through this woeful fault in the service that some 
of Captain Sawyer’s plans were rendered not only abortive, 
but injurious. Every one, however, will do him the justice 
to say, that no man took more pains to render his officers 
and ship in general a credit to himself, and of service to his 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


365 

country. To the education of the youngsters committed to 
his charge, he most faithfully attended ; and the blame rests 
not with him, if in their future rise through the world, they 
do not reflect merit on their captain. At any rate I, who 
had more close opportunities of knowing him by his actions, 
entertain a full belief that he has a heart of kindness, which 
love for the discipline of the service alone made him veil in 
reserve, and that his quickness of feeling, when angry, made 
him express more than was his internal conviction. Owing 
him much in the way of kindness, it is thus that I beg 
leave to repay the debt, with justice to myself, and impar- 
tiality to him. 

Before quitting the gentlemanly Talthorpes, I beg to in- 
troduce, as a wind-up, “ An Ode to Navarin,” which made 
its appearance on board. With some slight alterations it 
was as follows : 






NAVARIN. 

AN ODE. 

Vengeance ; vengeance ! hark the cry, 
Tempest-borne along the deep, 

Dares each pennon flaunt the sky, 

Ruffling hearts that scorn to weep. 

’Twas not thus, when Albion’s pride 
Twined around her seaman’s name, 
Twin-floats on that contested tide 
Her path to greatness — his to fame, 

Owed and own’d the uncancell’d debt, 

His swelling heart remembers yet. 

Thou scarlet slave ! — and what art thou 
If we withhold the conqu’ring prow ? 
Chained to the isle that gave thee birth 
To wait the coming foe, 

Thou couldst not save thy mother-earth 
From desolation’s woe. 

Had England’s safety lain in thee, 

She had not now been named “ The Free ” 
Though the immortal spirit’s flown, 

’Neath whose power-dissolving spell 
Monarchs held a doubtful throne, 

Sharing fears with those who fell ; 

Other foes may still arise, 

Other clouds o’ercast the skies ; 

Still, ocean rolls around thy land, 

But foreign keels may strike thy strand ; 

If hearts, once nerved with patriot zeal, 

Are left to moulder. in decay, 


366 


CAVENDISH ; OR, 

The flame that high-born bosoms feel, 

Will pine and pass away. 

Deem’st thou the slave will now protect, 
Whose life has been one long neglect ? 

High Heaven is clear, and Earth is bright, 
And Marathon revives once more, 

And Corinth trembling drinks delight, 
From sounds that o’er her Isthmus soar. 
The list’ning land lies hush’d and still, 
Bright gleam the waves ’neath every hill, 
Sounds float o’er each hoary mountain, 
Words that chain the gushing fountain. 
Such the deep suspense they fling, 

Joy, confusion, madden’d mirth, 

Wildly burst, and laughing, spring 
To hail emancipated earth. 

Each mighty sound a link doth sever, 

Thy chain ofbondage rends for ever, 

And thou ! the ocean’s child and chief! 

Recall the lip that deck’d thy name,* 
Around whose bier his country’s grief . 

Once hung the mournful garland — fame. 
Thee too the golden goddess hails, 

At worth like thine scared malice rails, 

And close when may thine honour’d age, 
Thy name is writ on history’s page ; 

As bright a leaf may still be thine, 

Gild but her fight with fav’ring mien. 

And Greece with ever grateful N ine 
Shall link thy song with Navarin. 

While hearts of worth, and daring hands, 
Shall grace thy throne, and guard thy lands. 


CHAPTER XLIV. 

Right weary of this revel, — 

I know not why it cheered me not — 

There came a heaviness across my heart. 

* * * * 

Through all the music ringing in my ears, 

A knell was sounding. Marino Faliero. 

And now I’m in the world alone ! Yes, good reader, having 
dismissed once and for ever all the subordinate characters, I 


* It is well known that Lord Nelson both spoke and wrote in the 
highest terms of William the Fourth while he was yet quite a young 
man. However bright a kingly diadem may be, this adds a lustre all 
might envy, and but one can boast. 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


367 

must now make the best of my way to England — previously 
informing thee, that between this and the last chapter, I 
have managed to take one final cruise in the Talthorpe back 
to our former haunts; and having been ashore in Ancona, 
am appointed acting-lieutenant of the , ordered to re- 

turn home ; that she is now on her passage, while I have 
taken a long farewell of the Mediterranean’s sunny shores. 

I need not say that the distress of mind occasioned by 
my visit to Sicily was great ; nor that the effort to for- 
get my grief in dissipation, at Naples, had a considerable 
tendency to injure my health ; and that thoroughly ha- 
rassed, I fell into a decidedly hypochondriacal state ; while, 
to crown all, the surgeon pronounced the achings in my 
breast, which I had fondly imagined were the effects of my 
growing better, to be nothing more or less than so many 
hints from rosy- cheeked consumption. 

“ The passions, sir, — the passions of the heart and mind, 
I suspect, have been too strongly excited. You must keep 
them under, sir, — that’s not exactly to say, keep them un- 
der, — but restrain them more, or you’ll go off, sir, go off 
like the snuff of a candle, — that’s not exactly to say, like 
the snuff of a candle, but you’ll be kicking the bucket sud- 
denly, you know — pop” — and he clapped his hands together, 
to make the death-tick sound. 

This was something comfortable on which to reflect ; and 
having gone up to relieve the deck, and keep the after- 
noon watch, I began to consider. “ Consumption !— ah, 
poor Lady Carleton ! — ’tis very awkward, too, being floored 
by such an opponent, after having escaped the Turks. 
That a man may not indulge sentiment in a little love, 
without being called on to pay such a tax — but there is no- 
thing like resignation” — and after considering what would 
be the best plan for meeting such an emergency, I thought 
of marriage, and a little milk and water. 

Thus after six years loving and choosing, I found myself 
no nearer the point than ever, except that my lungs de- 
manded I should get a wife within two months. Two 
months ! a monstrous short time for the preliminaries, which 
1 have always considered as agreeable a part as any — let me 
lose no time — what are the requisite constituents fcr a con- 
sumptive man’s wife ? — Beauty, according to taste : wit and 


368 CAVENDISH ; OR, 

accomplishments, but no learning ; a decidedly smooth 
temper and 

“ Please, sir, she’s in irons,” said a sorrowful sort of 
voice at my elbow. 

“ What, my wife ?” cried I starting. 

‘‘No, sir, the ship.” 

“ The devil she is!” 

I looked up ; it was true : and having extricated her from 
such an uncomfortable predicament, I was about to return 
to my uxorious projects, when the captain gave me a hint 
that I had better attend to my duty. 

Having arrived in England, and passed through my se- 
cond ordeal of navigation, before the learned James Inman, 
D.D., to whom the navy stands so much indebted for his 
Tables, my appointment was confirmed, and, O joyous era ! 
I became bona fide a lieutenant : and had to support my 
rank and honours, upon no less a sum than ninety pounds* 
a-year. 

; It was with no slight satisfaction that I folded up the piece 
of parchment, and set off to dine with the admiral. Four 
posts and myself — that is, not exactly to say, posts — once 
known by that appellative, but now called captains, though 
quite stiff enough to retain the former designation. 

What an unchristian, vulgar thing is carving at table ! I 
enter my protest against any man who can accomplish more 
in that way than helping a delicate turbot — he should be 
hooted as a butcher ; and the villain who would dare to 
sever before his guests the fair joints of a turkey should be 
voted an assassin. Is it not exertion enough to eat your 
dinner, without hacking and hewing, and sending the vile 
gravy into the bosom of your dearest friend, more slippery 
than the Ways of the world forsworn, more rankling than in- 
gratitude ? — out upon it ! heathenish custom, remnant of 
the diabolical ceremony of eating living bullocks, and drink- 
ing kava ! It was but yesterday at a naval mess, I beheld 
the wife of one of the ward-room officers tuck up her sleeves 
to make an attack upon a poor defenceless old goose — O 
shameless violation of good breeding ! to impose such a task 
upon one whose most violent bodily movement should be 
bowing to your wine, when there are half-a-dozen tall, idle 
* The immense sum of a lieutenant’s half-pay. 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


369 


lacqueys in the room, and sideboards for the purpose. Long 
live the French made dishes — all additional trouble is an 
unnecessary deodand on life. 

Course after course filed away. Each in its turn having 
tempted the guests to ruin their health, and lead their di- 
gestion astray, dessert, the best part of a dinner, appeared. 

But to proceed. The ladies retired, and the posts ad- 
vanced : each had some marvellous tale to relate of “ antres 
vast ” — some tough yarn to spin of a horrible gale at sea, or 
a terrible squall off Bermudas. Many a march was stolen 
upon truth ; and three of the four seemed to run a race 
against the other. One of the greatest braggarts in the 
navy was sitting next to me, and every now and then, as 
some startling “fact ” came out, he sipped his wine, and 
appeared to give it full belief, while an expression of cynic 
gravity was visible. The others were three allies, and hav- 
ing each had a turn, they were panting to get forth another 
yarn, and keep their antagonist out of the field, when the 
latter suddenly looking up as if he had swallowed every 
word, remarked, “ these circumstances that you relate are 
rather odd; but I have often heard things of the same 
sort. I remember one in particular. I dare say you must 
recognize the story.” 

Here they should have asked for it — they knew better. 
“ It was simply this,” he continued : — “ In the year 179 — , 
I was put into a transport, acting agent and commander, 
and sent home from the Cape ; but as we were to fall in 
with the fleet, we took a flock of sheep to sea with us — those 
fine, beautiful Cape sheep, with tails that weigh from two to 
four pounds. We were so cramped with other things, that 
the animals were all penned on the upper deck. The second 
day after losing the land, it came on to blow a tremendous 
gale, during which a sea breaking over us, threw the ship 
on her beam-ends, carried away the sheep-pens, (furiously 
dashing them in pieces,) the whole of the lee-booms, lee- 
gangwav, four men, and three ship’s boys. Of course no 
help could be given to them ; we had to keep our places, 
and right the ship ; when presently, the head ram of the 
flock, a notoriously sagacious animal, swam up to the main- 
top-sail yard, which was plumbing the water nearly up and 
down, and hooked one of his horns in this manne r ,” ex- 

2 B 


370 CAVENDISH ; OR, 

plaining on his fingers ; “ he tried to hook them both ; but 
you know it was a difficult thing with such a sea, being be- 
tween the yard-arm and the lift. This accomplished, he 
wagged his fat tail : when the next sheep to him seized it in 
her mouth, then the next to her again, and so on, until the 
whole flock were tail-on-end. In the next place, the boys 
got upon some of the animals’ backs, as you might mount a 
horse ; and as for the men, the stoutest, who was a captain of 
the fore-top, embraced the last sheep by the body, the rest 
clasping each other’s legs They had barely accomplished 
this manoeuvre, when the ship righted, and away they went, 
hanging all in a string like a cluster of bees — the most gro- 
tesque, extraordinary thing I ever beheld. I had utterly 
despaired of saving one of them, and was now delighted. 
‘Cheer up, my hearty — hold on taut — stick to it like a 
young greyhound to his breakfast,’ cried the captain of the 
fore-top, hailing the old ram — when just at this moment, 
that animal’s horn (which I have sine? ascertained most un- 
questionably had the dry-rot) gave way, and down came the 
whole group into the water. Never was more vexed in my 
life. ‘ Now, then,’ thought I, ‘ they are most decidedly 
gone, nothing can save them.’ I was wrong — the ship gave 
a lurch, and, aided by a swell that broke on our lee-gangway, 
the men, boys, sheep and all, were washed a board again ; 
and, bating the hammock-nettings, sheep-pens, and boom, 
without the loss even of the old ram’s horn, which stuck in 
the topsail-yard, and which, of course, I had made into a 
snuff-box” — producing a Scotch mull, set in gold, and richly 
chased. 

The captains looked like night, and drank their wine, as 
if to wash the “ yarn ” down, while the eldest, who sat 
near me, exclaimed, in a voice that was intended solely for 
himself, “ If that isn’t a stifflie, I never heard one !” 

“ How very extraordinary !” burst forth from one and all, 
after a pause. 

“ So I should think,” whispered the narrator to me. 
Then aloud, “ O very much out of the common run — never 
saw any thing like it — can show you a sketch as they all 
hung from the topsail-yard, if you pay me a visit on board 
my ship. 

Having drank their coffee, and looked at their watches. 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 371 

the captains deprecated all flights of fancy, and we adjourned 
to the regions above. 

The victorious lieutenants, alias the lieutenants of the 
Victory, determined to give a ball on board Nelson’s old 
flag-snip, to which he bequeathed some of the immortality 
that consecrates his own name. It was fully attended by 
both the beauty and plain-sailing of Portsmouth and its 
environs. 

Supper was laid out on the main-deck. I had just 
handed my partner to a seat and lemonade. 

“ It is a very distressing story,” said some one in my ear. 

“ Exceedingly so,” replied another ; they say he is cer- 
tain of being found guilty and hung.” 

“ How lamentable ! a young man of considerable promise, 
and very good family !” 

“ Yes ; but the extent of his offence shuts out all hope of 
mercy.” 

“ May I inquire to whom you allude ?” addressing myself 
to the last speaker. 

“A midshipman, brought home on board the Glatton 
frigate, in irons, for shooting Captain Cobbit, of H. M. S. 
Vindictive, in South America. He is imprisoned on board 
here, until his trial by court-martial, which is to take place 
immediately.” 

“ Pray, sir, do you know the particulars ?” 

“ Not exactly ; but I can vouch for what I have men- 
tioned, having seen him when he came on board ; a very 
gentlemanly, tall, thin young man, seemingly about two- 
and twenty, with a very dark complexion.” 

“ Do you know his name ?” I inquired. 

“ I almost forget ; but should recognise it instantly — a 
singular name — I think it was D’Aquilar — yes, that was it.” 

“ D’Aquilar !” I exclaimed in amazement, “ surely it 
cannot be D’Aquilar !” 

“ Yes ; I remember it well, now, and am positive.” 

“ What Christian name ?” 

“ Ernest. His father, I believe, died some six months 
since, and he came to the title. Sir Ernest D’Aquilar.” 

“ Good Heavens ! Can it be within the bounds of 
possibility ? Do you know whether he ever belonged to the 
Welladay ?” 


2 b 2 


372 


CAVENDISH ; OR, 


4t Yes ; the same.” 

I was dumb. Neither doubt nor hope any longer af- 
forded me relief, and yet I felt determined not to believe 
the story until I had it from his own lips : 

“ Can I manage to see him ?” I asked : “ he is my most 
particular friend.” 

“ Any one,” returned my informer, “ may be admitted 
with the commanding officer's permission ; you would not 
wish to see him to-night, would you ?” 

“Yes, this instant, if I could.” 

“ Well, come this way, I see Captain is disen- 

gaged ; you can state to him the nature of your intimacy 
with the prisoner, and I do not doubt his according you an 
interview.” 

Having done this, and gained my request, I hurried down 
on the middle deck to visit my poor friend. 


CHAPTER XLV. 

It’s of a fine frigate, La Pique is her name, 

All in the West Indies she bore a great fame. 

For cruel bad usage in every degree, 

Like slaves in a galley we ploughed the salt sea. 

Old Sea Song. 

On the middle deck, forward in the ‘bows, are built the 
prisons. I entered — the door was locked behind me, and 
as the sentinel resumed his sullen march, I found myself 
alone with the companion of my boyhood — the friend of 
my youth — the fellow- lover of my mistress — a chained — a 
captive murderer ! — Where was he ? Around me I beheld 
a small, narrow cell ; upon the head of a cask stood the 
flickering lamp, whose wick, unsnuffed, had assumed the 
fantastic figure of a hideous head ; its rays, thus obscured, 
falling dimly around even the small space it was intended to 
illumine. Two things on which its glare descended struck 
instantly upon my sight — the strong and narrow-grated win- 
dow, now closed, looking down upon the flood ; and next, a 
burnished knot of chains, which grasped a small and naked 
foot, protruding from some bed-clothes. 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


373 

Soon the eye, becoming more accustomed to tne peculiar 
light, traced along the deck a seaman’s hammock, upon 
whose pillow reposed some dark figure. I approached 

trembling, and rapidly Alas ! ’twas Ernest D’Aquilar 

indeed ! and in the attenuated features before me, partly 
hidden by the long, dark, curling hair neglect had licensed, 
I recognised that daring, restless being — my generous play- 
mate, my thoughtless friend. His left hand was in his 
bosom, his right arm beneath his head ; around his neck 
was suspended, by a gold chain, that ill accorded with the 
squalid scene around, a small miniature, appearing to have 
dropped from his slumbering grasp. I looked, and found 
it to be a beautifully executed likeness of Letitia. 

He had grown much in manly beauty since I beheld him 
last. Perfect quiet was pictured on his features ; and a 
bright smile played around his mouth. Occasionally, a 
slight knitting of the brow and curl of the lip were to be 
seen ; but straight again the whole was calm ; and if guilt 
now harboured in his soul, no traces could be found upon 
his countenance. With agony did I bend over him, and 
pause to see if such a dream would pass away. Alas ! it 
changed not — the soft murmurs of his breath, the flitting of 
the lamp, were all that spoke of life ; but, ah, how much 
they said ! 

In pity I hesitated to break upon his slumbers ; and once 
more looking round to see what were his resources in so 
dreadful a solitude, I perceived a guitar, a desk, and some 
books, among which were those of Holy Writ and Common 
Prayer ; the rest were chiefly poems. 

" Ah, Cavendish ! I knew you would come,” Ernest 
suddenly exclaimed, awaking and holding out his hand. I 
grasped it in mine, but could not speak, when suddenly 
starting back, he inquired, “ Who are you ?” I began to 
fear that Reason had resigned her empire ; but it was 
merely the confusion with which we often meet, between 
the visions of sleep and the waking reality. 

“ You remember me, D’Aquilar, do you not ?” 

<f Yes, to be sure, I do, Manvers. This is kind. Sit 
down ; — but you seem rather sprucely dressed. What ! 
and an epaulette on your shoulder ? Then you are made ! 
I give you joy l” 


CAVENDISH J OR, 


374 

“ Thank you, my dear fellow ; it requires some counter 
feeling to alleviate the grief of seeing you thus.” 

“ O, you think of this !” clanking the chains around his 
feet, and casting a look at his place of confinement. 
“Yes, fate is inscrutable ! — quite. But, after all, it is Fate, 
you know ; and how can we struggle against her thrall ? 
Some would — ay, will tell you — that your old friend is a 
murderer ! But where,” — and he started up iii his bed, 
while an expression of fierce, determined, self-satisfaction 
arrayed itself in his eye — “is he who tells you Brutus was 
a murderer ? Then how much less am I ? He slew a 
tyrant — the same deed was mine. But the victim of Brutus 
was a hero — a bright star, that gemmed the space it 
swayed. Mine was a villain, poisoning the very air he 
breathed, soiling the very dirt on which he trod. I will not 
ask mankind — if I was right or wrong — I asked myself, my 
conscience — God’s priest within the mind, — and that held 
me to be right !” 

“ My dear D’Aquilar, I do not doubt ” and here 

I was at a loss what to say further. It was evident that 
the recollection of the past harrowed up his feelings ; and 
however self- justification might assuage the pang, the opi- 
nion of a world he tried to hold at nought still rankled in 
his bosom. 

“ Let me hear the story,” I at last said. “ I am igno- 
rant of the circumstances which led to the sad event you 
mention.” 

“ What ! has not Fame, that many-tongued goddess, 
made you yet acquainted with the tale ?” 

“ So far from it, my dear D’Aquilar, that it was only half 
an hour since I heard of your being aboard. There 
happens to be a ball here to-night, and that accounts for 
my dress.” 

“ Indeed ! then let me go over this shadow of my ex- 
istence. You may remember my last letters left me on 
board the Welladay, with Captain Humbug. I was rather 
a favourite with the old fellow, and he had good points, 
which made up for his follies ; but, unluckily for me, I was 
not doomed to remain in his ship. The Vindictive frigate. 
Captain Cobbit, came into Rio, and he applied to the ad- 
iiiual for a midshipman who could keep watch. Humbug, 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


375 

thinking I should like the opportunity, sent for me in 
Cobbit’s presence, and put the question. Now the Vindic- 
tive was notorious throughout the station for the most com- 
plete system of cruelty and oppression being prevalent on 
board. Of this I was aware, but I allowed false delicacy to 
prevent my raising any objections before him, and I there- 
fore acquiesced. 

“ As I expected, it was the most complete life of tyranny 
one could possibly imagine. If any one of the youngsters 
had the misfortune to bring down the displeasure of the 
captain or first-lieutenant, the latter of whom was Lord 
Nabbem, he was immediately sent upon deck, having been 
previously made to dress in full uniform — cocked-hat, sword 
and belt, and compelled to walk up and down in the hot 
sun. The consequence was, that one or two perished from 
a coup de soleil* With the men it was the same story re- 
peated, and one of the ship’s boys was pursued with such 
rancorously severe malice, that he jumped overboard to es- 
cape the torments of his earthly demons. The ship was on 
the very brink of open mutiny, and not a night did the cap- 
tain, first or second lieutenants pass without having a brace 
of pistols under their pillows, to resent any attempt at their 
destruction. 

“ I had no sooner discovered this to oe the case, than I 
determined to leave her, and communicated my wishes to 
the captain. After having evaded my request in every pos- 
sible manner, some very high words passed between us on the 
subject, when I told him that I was wholly independent of 
the navy ; and that, as I held a much higher rank in society 
than promotion in the service seemed likely to give me, I 
would never consent to remain an instant longer than pos- 
sible in any ship that was at all irksome. This ended by 
my giving him a letter, addressed on service, to the admiral, 
which he refused to forward, according to the regulation. 
He now feared and hated me; but my duty was always done, 
and I never came within his power. 

“ One morning, when the hammocks had just been piped 
off the lower deck, several of the midshipmen, myself among 
the rest, were sitting in the berth, while our bedding was 

* The perpetrator of this inhumanity may here recognise his own 
deeds. 


£76 CAVENDISH ; OR, 

being lashed up. It was very hot and sultry, and one of 
the youngsters complied with the universal request, and un- 
screwing the scuttle, pushed it out. We were lying at 

anchor in at the time, and Captain Cobbit was, as 

usual, taking his morning cruise in his boat round the ship, 
with Lord Nabbem, both endeavouring to find out some 
fault with which to visit the head of the boatswain, gunner, 
carpenter, or officer of the watch. In an instant he espied 
the open scuttle. He had previously given an order that 
none of these scuttles should be unscrewed — a most unjust, 
tyrannical act ; since, for what were they made, and put into 
the officers* cabins and men’s berths, if not for ventilation 
and fresh air ? But so it was. It pleased these Tartars. 
Common sense and reflection were forgotten. 

" They had no sooner returned on board than they sent 
down for the midshipman who had opened it. On hearing 
this the youngster was very much frightened, and asked me 
what plan he had better pursue, as the captain w’ould assur- 
edly flog him. I thought myself that this would be the 
probable result, and wishing to spare him that disgrace, I 
determined to take the blame on my own shoulders, con- 
sidering that my age and interest would protect me from 
any violence of that sort, while to any inferior punishment 
I did not care exposing myself, as the offender was a quiet, 
gentle little creature, a favourite of mine. 

“ Accordingly I repaired to the captain, who was standing 
on the quarter deck. ‘ Was it you, sir, who dared to break 
through my order ? ’ — ‘ Not that I am aware of, sir,’ I replied : 
for I was placed in such a delicate situation that I had no 
resource but the equivoque. 

“ * How not that you are aware of, sir ? you know as well 
as I do, that positive orders have been given not to open 
. any of the scuttles on any account ; and yet you act in di- 
rect opposition, for your own convenience. However, you 
, shall find what it is to trample on the regulations which I 
think fit to lay down ;’ — and he left the deck. 

“ I was quite at a loss to conjecture what might be forth- 
coming, when his steward desired me to wait on him in his 
cabin. I found him leaning against the mizen-mast ; a cigar 
which he had just lit, was in his hand. 

" ‘ Go in there, sir,’ said he, pointing me into his after- 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


377 


cabin, when he followed, locking the door behind him. 
‘ Now, sir/ he continued, with a fiendish grin, * I am going 
to flog you/ 

“‘Surely, sir/ I replied, starting back aghast, ‘you jest/ 

“ ‘ Do I ?’ he replied ; ‘ but it will turn out a bitter jest 
for you/ 

“ ‘ Positively, Captain Cobbit, I cannot believe that you 
are in earnest when you talk of such a thing. You must be 
aware that there is an order, a positive order, against any 
thing of the sort, in the Navy List, from the Lord High 
Admiral. Besides, sir, my age — do you know that I am 
nearly two- and- twenty ?* 

“ ‘I don’t care, sir, if you are as old as my father. I’m 
d d if I don’t flog you.’ 

“ My agitation was so excessive that I knew not what to 
do or say. I felt that I was completely in his power ; no 
one could stand my friend unless I created a mutiny in my 
favour. Despair seized upon me. Here was this tyrant 
about to inflict a dishonour ten thousand times worse to me 
than death : and to avert it was impossible. The drops 
rolled from my brow, as I begged and prayed ; — nay, I be- 
lieve I even knelt to him in the agony of my feelings. But 
it was all in vain ; the monster seemed to gloat upon my 
sufferings ; and the only answer that I could obtain was an 
iteration of his infernal intention to humiliate me. I would 
have mentioned the truth, but could not now retreat with 
honour. Imagination suggested suicide, by jumping over- 
board ; but that would have been a triumph for him. His 
every look breathed of his diabolical purpose. I turned away 
with a suffocating sensation of frenzy it would be vain at- 
tempting to describe, when our evil genius caused my atten- 
tion to rest on his uniform sword, that stood glittering in 
the corner of his cabin ; and yet I cannot, will not say it was 
unfortunate ; — I would rather be the blood-stained being 
that I am, than the degraded thing he strove to make me 
— and the long-repressed tears gushed over D'Aquilar’s 
cheek in torrents, as for a moment he leant his head on his 
hand, and paused at this period of his narrative. 

“ Even now,” he continued, “ I cannot recall that mo- 
ment’s mingled feeling of horror and grief without being 
moved; for if he had perpetrated his end. I should havg 


378 CAVENDISH ; OR, 

been more wretched still, besides being ultimately compelled 
to wipe out the stain in his very heart's blood : — but to my 
story. 

“ At the sight of the weapon, a revulsion of passion came 
across me, and instead of the horror, the shrinking horror, 
that banished the blood from all save the circle of my heart, 
deep ungovernable rage succeeded, and sent the current 
rushing on my brain. Without a thought of what was to 
follow, or of aught save to quench my thirst of rage and 
despair in the stream of vengeance, I sprang towards the 
sword. As I drew it forth I heard a shriek, and, turning, 
beheld the pale coward, with one hand attempting to undo 
the lock he had turned on me, and the other guarding his 
vile bosom. 

“ Instead of being somewhat pacified by this scene, it 
merely inflamed my resentment the more. I made but one 
spring, and the whole weight of my body came with my 
thrust. He uttered but the words 4 Oh ! save me, spare 
me !’ and his breath was hushed for ever. 

“ The sword, propelled by such tremendous force, had 
pierced his arm, transfixed his body, and its point even pro- 
truded through the slight panel of the door, which he had 
that instant unlocked, and which now gave way to the 
weight of his body, with the corpse pinioned to it. No 
sooner was the deed of madness past — gone beyond recall 
— no sooner did I fix my eyes upon the bleeding corpse, 
whence the vital spark had fled, never more to be revived, 
than the whole recollection and bitterness of the truth came 
over me, like a deep, dark, blood- woven veil, shutting me 
out from every brightening view of life. What was I ? — a 
homicide. 

“ Once more I could have hastened to burv my burning 
face and throbbing heart in the fall of waters, which flowed 
as unconsciously beneath the windows, as if no deed of 
death had passed above them, as if no tide of human gore, 
violently shed, were now mingling its polluted current with 
their free and boundless tide. 

“ I looked up, and my eye rested on the poor old boat- 
swain, standing fixed with horror, his jacket had been taken 
off, the cat-o’-nine tails had fallen from his grasp, and were 
lying on the deck, while he held some seizings in the other 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


379 

hand ready to brand me, the last of an old race, with ever- 
lasting shame, and that at the bidding of the wretch im- 
paled before me. Fainthearted mercy hence ! I tear thee 
from my heart for ever ! — not one sigh of regret shall 
fling its odour on this deed : one tyrant felled, leaves earth 
more free, though it lead me to the dungeon and the scaf- 
fold. My prayer in one, my blood upon the other, shall 
prove my adoration for the courage of that hour. The 
villain then really did intend his actions to measure with his 
words ! Enough ! I did not plan the deed, it came to me 
unsought — for that, thank God ; but even were it not so — 
better that a thousand such fiends should perish by this 
hand, than that one should triumph over me as he intended ; 
better to throw away a life to benefit the world, than let 
oppression render it a burden to myself. 

“ The rest of my tale is swiftly told — you see me here, a 
prisoner — chained in irons — a felon, men would strive to 
say — I hope not all. I was sent home in the Glatton, and 
ere this day month I shall have passed away, like one, whose 
name was writ on water ; and now farewell — the morning 
is advancing, go and get some sleep ; I see you do not love 
me less because my tale is told : at ten to-morrow let us 
meet again.” 


CHAPTER XL VI. 

Benighted in its morn, his sun went down 
To rise no more ; while fond love threw. 

Like some sweet rosy cloud, its tender veil 
Over the dying agonies of youth. 

Confused by the emotions of pity, anger, and sorrow, to 
which his recital had given rise, I returned to the deck, 
where the ball w T as nearly at its zenith. With a sickening 
heart I gave one final glance at the galaxy of beauties, 
whose “many twinkling feet” might wake to mirth the 
sternest cynic’s heart. Too fearfully indeed did the lesson 
below carry a conviction to the heart, how frequently amidst 
a path of flowers the adder creeps along ! 

Who could have conjectured the unfortunate fate of my 
messmate ? How wild —how improbable it would have 


380 CAVENDISH ; OR, 

seemed, but three months since, to say, ‘ he shall be lying 
in prison, branded with the darkest name, tinted with the 
deepest hue of crime, that man of man can earn ; and yet 
his story was so seemingly innocent, (and it was true to the 
letter,) that you could not bring yourself to say he was an 
assassin !’ 

Men are the sport of circumstances, when 
The circumstances seem the sport of men. 

I do not believe D’Aquilar would have wounded the feelings 
of the lowest menial, — and yet behold ! 

At the appointed hour on the ensuing day I was with him ; 
this was Tuesday, and the order had arrived for his trial by 
court-martial on the following Thursday ; Admiral Sir 
Hurry Blackchops being appointed President, and the other 
members of the court duly named. 

D’Aquilar’s spirits were as buoyant as ever ; if an occa- 
sional moment of abstraction came across his manner, more 
frequently than in former days, it was no more than might 
be accounted for by his increase of age. We talked of all 
that had happened to us since our last parting, and, after 
some gentle approaches, I ventured to name Letitia. 

“ Alas, Manvers! Do not recall to my memory how’ deep 
is the fountain of my woe. Anything but that I can bear. 
The dear and cherished hope on which I lived is rudely 
snatched away. Thank heaven, my dearest relatives are in 
the tomb ; their pillows are not wet with tears for the dis- 
honour — dishonour’" — correcting himself, " no — not the 
dishonour — the misfortune of my house. I had hoped to 
leave my name with those I loved behind on earth, but the 
deepest pang of all is, that I have lived and loved alike in 
vain !” 

Starting from his seat, while the chains clanked mourn- 
fully at each step, he leant at the grated port to conceal the 
emotion which shook him. I did not see his tears, but I 
felt that they were flowing. There is nothing to which a 
man submits less readily than that another should view a 
moistened eye. False delicacy ! It only proves the feelings 
to be stronger than the restraining principle. 

Having waited till I thought D’Aquilar had regained his 
composure, I asked him why he was so despondent? “Your 
case, as I view it, is far- — very far from hopeless. There 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


381 


was no premeditation in the deed, no malice aforethought, 
and he was acting in opposition to his orders. You might, 
I think, get off by banishment.” 

“ Cavendish/* said D’Aquilar, suddenly interrupting me, 
“ say no more — my fate is sealed ; I ask you this as an es- 
pecial favour — do you grant it ?” 

“ Certainly .” 

“ Then I will ask a second — I should like to see Letitia 
Carleton, to hear her cherished voice, and once more see 
that form of loveliness, before this mockery, this dream of 
unreal shadows, is dispelled — you can effect it.” 

“ Surely ” 

“ Stay, I know what you would urge, but I have had 
more time than necessary to resolve upon the conduct which 
I shall adopt ; that, I have said before, is decided — nothing 
can, nor shall, alter my decision. This is the last request I 
shall prefer to you — it will not be refused ?’ 

“ Certainly not,” I replied. 

“ Very well then. Take a six- oared galley this evening, 

and proceed to bay. On the right hand are the 

ruins of an old block-house. In that ruin you will be joined 
by a youth wrapped in a large Spanish cloak ; this will be 
Letitia Carleton in disguise. She is residing at her uncle’s 
estate ; she has agreed to venture on board to see me, and 
to vou I entrust the task of passing her off as my cousin.” 

To this I could make no refusal, and every thing having 
been arranged, and the boat engaged with six men whom 

I could trust, we set off for bav, in the Isle of 

Wight. 

The evening was calm, still, and lovely, as the most 
delicate form could desire, and at five minutes to five, our 
keel razed the different-coloured sands of the appointed bay. 
Who has not felt that speaking thrill which pervades the 
frame, and almost stills the heart, when the object of a 
long-stifled passion is about to appear before us ? a sensa- 
tion almost like that which we experience when about to 
plunge into a cold-bath, seeming nearly to arrest the lungs 
in full play ; the memory of an age passes before us in an 
instant — the nerves are unstrung — the tongue is mute. 
Before me stood the old block-house, and I paused to con- 
template it, lest the joy of this moment, or rather the depth 


382 


CAVENDISH ; OR, 

of these feelings, (for in that lies joy,) should be too quickly 
flown. With a stealthy step I entered the roofless ruin, 
where, sitting on a fragment of the wall, book in hand, but 
looking through one of the embrazures, I beheld a figure 
wrapt, as D’Aquilar had told me, in a large Spanish cloak. I 
merely glanced at the little foot, which peeping from the 
trousers could not conceal its minute beauty, and that was 
sufficient recognition — no man might ever show its equal ; 
and, advancing, I addressed her. 

“ I believe you are waiting for a boat, sir ?” She turned, 
and never have I seen a face so very, very beautiful. The 
rays of an Apollo seemed glowing in her eyes, withal so 
tender in their every look, you might have thought a breath 
would ruffle the slight lines that marked their form. As she 
arose, the delicate complexion of her cheek was succeeded 
by a blush, far too deep and sensitive ever to spring from 
anything save the heart of woman. She dared not lift her 
eyes to mine ; but they appeared roaming for some object 
on which to fix themselves. Her confusion seemed to in- 
crease, and words to be denied, while the crimson glow was 
so quickly succeeded by complete paleness, that, apprehen- 
sive she was about to faint, I took her hand, saying, 
“ Letitia, do you not know me ?” 

Mankind are ever blundering ; instead of averting the 
dreaded finale to her embarrassment, my words only has- 
tened its arrival, for, looking in my face, she uttered some 
exclamation of surprise, and swooned. 

This was very romantic; and yet, I neither ran to obtain 
water in my hat, nor pulled out a pen-knife, which accident 
placed in my pocket, to open a vein, nor, indeed, had re- 
course to any other remedies, for I had read that youthful 
hearts full oft recover these things; and though somewhat 
alarmed, I did — and I think you, reader, would have done 
the same — but fold her more closely in my arms, and stole, 
in the shape of sundry kisses, a glimpse of heaven, that 
heaven could never miss. It is only in such moments as 
these that the heart can fathom all its love ; and this short 
interview informed me more than years of thought or me- 
mory could have done. It told me how vainly I had be- 
trothed my passing plight to many, and plunged into the 
stream of folly : here was the rock lying at the bottom ; 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


383 


those the mere waters flowing above it. She revived — I 
thought too quickly — and reluctantly I was obliged to resign 
my dear burden to the proper support of her own little 
feet. 

“ Dear Manvers — Mr. Cavendish, how are you ? Well, 
I hope — though your appearance does not say so.” 

“Thank you, I am very well; but the pleasure of this 
meeting, and the lamentable tale connected with it, will 
account for my appearing otherwise. All questions as to 
your health are answered in your countenance ; allow me to 
congratulate you on the change.” 

“ But when did you arrive in England, Manvers ? Your 
appearance is so unexpected. Your voice is very little 
changed — when I heard it, I cannot describe the emotions 
which it raised. — I would have given worlds to look up. — 
I did not recognise it, but unconsciously it brought back days 
— gone for ever ! ” 

She paused , but Letitia was far from wanting in strength 
of mind, though softness itself in manner. Making an 
effort, she resumed. “ But you are safe, safe from the 
thousand perils that have beset you, and it is a great con- 
solation to have an old friend near me at such a moment of 
trial as that awaiting me. You came from Ernest. You 
have heard his story. What a heart-rending tale ! You 
know it all. Do you wait to take me to him ? Tell me — 
for I can rely on your knowledge and prudence — do I run 
much danger ? Will my discovery injure him ? — for my- 
self I have no care.” 

“ No, Letitia, your discovery could not injure him,” I 
replied, “nor do I consider there is much danger of any 
such occurrence ; but he would feel the disappointment of 
your staying away more than we can conceive.” 

* Oh ! not for worlds would I do so. I will go at any 
risk ; more especially when I consider the possibility of this 
being the last opportunity of an interview that may occur 
before the trial.” 

Having concealed as much of her face and long-flowing 
ringlets as possible, we arrived on board nearly at eight 
o’clock ; and I sent a message to the first-lieutenant in 
order that our interview might take place in the darkness of 
the middle-deck. A discovery could have done nothing 


384 


, CAVENDISH ; OR, 

more than put my commission in danger, and that I held at 
three straws* value ; so that mine was nothing of the peril, 
comparatively speaking, with that of poor Letitia, who 
shook and quivered sadly. The officer came, and I intro- 
duced the disguised to him as Mr. George D’Aquilar. 
Now Mr. Jones (the lieutenant’s name) was an elderly 
bachelor — an admirer of art, I suppose, — at any rate, he 
was partial to pretty faces ; and whether it was that he 
caught a glimpse of Letitia’s countenance, or that he was 
taken by the gentle indistinct tones of her voice, or whether 
some unknown innate feeling told him he was not con- 
versing with one of his own sex, I cannot say ; but of this 
I am certain, never did I behold one man so civil to another. 
He bowed and smiled in a manner that might have done 
honour to a French dancing- master ; and lastly, insisted 
that Letitia should walk into the ward-room. 

For this I was not prepared, and consequently had not 
cautioned Letitia how to act ; she therefore thought ac- 
quiescence her best plan, and faltering forth “ Most happy,” 
prepared to follow Tom Jones into the ward-room, where, 
in a blaze of light, were all the lieutenants and some half-a- 
dozen strangers from the shore, sitting over their wine. 
Once uncloaked and unbonneted before them, as she must 
have been, it was a lost battle, and therefore hastening up 
to the first-lieutenant, I whispered, “ This poor lad is in 
very delicate health, and the news of the prisoner’s fate has 
been a great shock to all his family. He accepted your 
offer out of courtesy, but I know he will feel thankful to be 
excused, and it will oblige me also.” 

“ Oh, certainly,” replied Jones ; “ I would not press 
any thing disagreeable for an instant,” — and calling a mid- 
shipman of the watch, he gave directions to let us be passed 
into the prisoner’s cell, made his bow, and rejoined his 
table. 

As we walked down into the region below, now half-lit 
up, with some of the men swearing, others singing, and all 
adding to the noise incidental to a guard-ship, Letitia 
shrank to my side dismayed. 

“It cannot be here, surely ; it cannot be in such a place 
as this, that they have confined Sir Ernest D’Aquilar !” 
But when we paused before the iron-grated door, coarsely 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


385 

whitewashed, near which were chained four or five men in 
a state of intoxication, and two sentries parading up and 
down with drawn bayonets, her feelings of horror and dis- 
gust seemed to overcome every recollection of prudence, 
and I dreaded a repetition of her fainting, which would have 
been nothing near so pleasant in its results, as when occur- 
ring in a desolate old block-house. Reminding her that 
every thing depended on self-possession, she summoned 
sufficient courage to enter. 

Ah ! little do ye know of ships — or that which they con- 
tain, ye ladies fair, — whose sole idea of the navy is made 
up by w T altzing with a captain ; and thus having an oppor- 
tunity of closely inspecting a bright pair of epaulettes, sur- 
mounted with crown and anchor, little do ye deem that he 
who is metheglin to-night can be verjuice to-morrow ! 
Scarcely do ye imagine the lot of many a tender-hearted 
little fellow, with fine warm feelings that do honour to the 
soul, being thrashed, and bullied, and initiated into all that 
is mean and abhorrent, — of talents wasted — ambition ob- 
scured, thrown back upon itself, and he who should have 
died an honour to himself, and a loss to his country, drop- 
ping into an untimely grave — a youthful sot ! 

Yet so it is : the abuse of institutions may be found every 
where, and the navy is full of them : like the mountains 
behind which the sun rises, they longest remain in shadow, 
and it is only when the orb is near its zenith that they are 
fully illumined by his rays. To our tale. As Letitia 
entered, D’Aquilar sprung up to receive her, then checked 
himself : he advanced not ; too rapidly the painful recol- 
lection of his bondage crossed him to allow of his disturb- 
ing the chains, whose every clank was equally a pang to 
us all. 

I must own that a throb of jealousy shot across my 
breast, as I beheld them locked in an embrace, after a sepa- 
ration of two years so fatal in its result — and yet what 
business had it there ? — She was, or should be nought to 
me. Banishing the idea from my breast, I left them alone, 
and retired to think of D’Aquilar’s conduct, for there was 
that in it which seemed most unaccountable. In the first 
nlace, he sedulously avoided all mention of Letitia, as if 
connected with the knowledge of something that wounded 

2 c 


386 


CAVENDISH J OR, 


him, and of which I was ignorant ; and then, again, with 
regard to his own trial, he not only seemed to preclude all 
hope, but neglected to make any provision against its final 
result, positively forbidding me to do so, and, moreover, 
had never communicated the intelligence to a single friend. 
This he had left to reports which appeared in the public 
prints. Altogether, his behaviour was most perplexing. 
But I was led to wait the issue of his trial : should that be 
unfavourable, I had resolved, without his leave, on exert- 
ing the united influence of both our families, to get the sen- 
tence commuted to banishment for life : in which case, I 
concluded it would be equally immaterial whether England 
became a forbidden place or not, provided his destiny was 
united with that of the soft being to whom he was engaged. 

Having arrived at this point, after a sufficient lapse of 
time, I returned to the prison, where I found Letitia seated 
on his chest, crying, while D’Aquilar was gazing through 
the port-hole on the sea. His eyes also bore traces of 
weakness, similar to those of Letitia, and the expression on 
both their countenances carried conviction to my mind 
that something unpleasant had occurred between them. 
This was inexplicable : both, however, seemed relieved by 
my reappearance, and I made no remark. 

After a conversation of twenty minutes on some less en- 
grossing subject, the hour of nine arrived — a sad and heavy 
knell that warned us to depart. 

“ Loved Letitia !” said H’Aquilar, not daring even to look 
at the object which he addressed, “ how different is this 
hour from that when last we parted ! But away with re- 
trospection ! how vain ! for me doubly vain ! when the only 
life that now remains to me is — in futurity : — dread words 
to breasts of guilt — not to mine : the love which mortality 
dissevers may he united in a purer form. Yes, Letitia, 
earth has passed, and life hath all but flitted, yet shall we 
meet again !” Saying this, he sprang towards her feet. * 
partly embracing her slight but beauteous figure, while his 
wrung and agonised countenance, streaming with woe, was 
turned to hers. 

It was a sight beyond her strength to look on ; her tiny 
hands, clasped against the ship’s side, supported her head, 
as if awaiting in anguish until this scene were passed. 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 387 

“ Look not away, Letitia,” D’Aquilar continued ; “ bend 
but on me that eve, which has lent its fancied light in 
every scene of danger — and then I have done with mor- 
tality for ever !” 

“ Spare me, O Heaven ! this misery,” sobbed the weep- 
ing girl, lifting up her eyes, and then extending an arm to 
the impassioned being at her feet. “Ernest, my heart 

yy 

“ Ay, there it is !” he frantically interrupted, pressing 
her hand to his bosom ; “ thy heart, my dreamt-of jewel, 
gone. O that the soul of man should hold emotions lead- 
ing him to destruction ! — Yet look on me once more, 
Letitia!” She turned towards him for a moment, while 
the convulsed mouth and tortured brow denoted the inten- 
sity of her grief, and then sunk into his extended arms. 

The hysteric note of despair — the struggling sigh, alone 
denoted that aught like life was in the prison. 

“ Still, Letitia, will you think of me sometimes,” resumed 
D’Aquilar, after a pause of a few minutes, “ when you see 
that little star as now rising from its watery bed ? Will 
you then imagine that the spirit of one, who, living, was 
wrapt up in thee, is hovering near ? Then think that, like 
yon solitary speck in the grand waste of heaven, was my 
life of affection and suffering in the sea of time — however 
lustrous and sparkling — doomed only to live through the 
night, and set in mists, beshorn of all its splendour.” 

“ My dear Ernest,” she replied, looking up for a moment, 
“ ’twere vain, even if I tried, to forget aught so noble, gen- 
erous, and devoted” — and once more she hid her face upon 
his shoulder. 

Another pause succeeded, and again it was broken by 
D’Aquilar. “ My life, this parting were better past for 
both of us ; and though it is but a mockery to offer any 
mortal present, where I have given my whole soul, still 
when human hope and human affections no longer agitate 
my own bosom, I could wish that this last memento of an 
unfortunate friend should be borne upon your own.” Say- 
ing which he took from a case a necklace, and clasped it 
round the throbbing, unresisting neck, that reposed upon 
his shoulder ; it was of diamonds, with a ruby cross; — 
“ and all I ask in return is, that the last greeting these lips 
2 c 2 


388 


CAVENDISH ; OR, 

may take of any human being, may come from thee. Envy 
me not, Cavendish, mine is the present, thine the future 
hour.” 

She gently raised her head ; and, pressing his feverish 
lips to hers, he exclaimed, “ Death has no pang to equal 
this — farewell!” then gently unclasping her arms, he re- 
signed her to my care, and sunk with a convulsive sob upon 
the bed beside him 

“ The first lieutenant wishes to know if the visitors 

are gone,” said the sentry, appearing. 

“ They are now going,” J replied, muffling Letitia in her 
cloak. A wave of the hand from me, and a look from her, 
followed — she had no power to add more — when the door 
heavily closed for ever between Sir Ernest D’Aquilar and 
the object of his heart's devoted attachment. 

Little or no notice was excited by Letitia, as we passed 
on, for the ship’s crew had principally retired to rest ; and 
those who observed her tears and faltering step, saw in 
them nothing more than nature, for she had all the appear- 
ance of a boy of fifteen. As we passed the bows where 
D’Aquilar was imprisoned, we delayed a moment to wave 
our hands towards him. 

By the bright and pensive light of the moon we distinctly 
observed D’Aquilar return our last melancholy farewell, and 
then disappear. Slowly the boat moved forward, while the 
parting scene I had witnessed left me more than ever be- 
wildered. If I were to judge from this, he complained of 
affection not returned ; and yet could any one who witnessed 
Letitia’s grief at parting, come to a conclusion that she did 
not love him ? Then the song from herself, at Naples, 
came back to my recollection, and I turned to see if any 
light on this subject was to be had from her. But no ; she 
continued to recline upon my shoulder, and weep on ; when, 
thinking the result could hardly fail to elucidate the present 
mystery, I resigned conjecture. But what was that result 
to be ? — here a shudder came over me, and, shrinking into 
myself, I looked towards my lovely companion — while hopes, 
whose existence I would not confess, threw their cheering 
rays around my heart. Above me, in the beauteous hea- 
vens, was the solitary star that D’Aquilar had mentioned, 
shedding its own pure light, and sparkling in the ethereal 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


389 

blue, like love in the wilderness of life. I never gaze on it 
without feeling a strange, unaccountable gush of emotion ; 
and the time, thoughts, and sensations of the hour I am 
now describing, together with all that has since passed, come 
back as vividly as in their first reality. 

Gnce more we arrived at the bay from which we had 
started ; and I accompanied Letitia to her uncle’s grounds. 
The scene in which we had participated unhinged us both ; 
and the prospect of losing a mutual friend, naturally inclined 
our hearts the more to one another. Such, at least, was 
the reasoning by which I accounted for the warmth of feel- 
ing which accompanied the night’s adieus. Having promised 
to be the first and earliest newsbearer of the trial, I con- 
signed her to the servant in waiting, and re-embarked for 
Portsmouth. 


CHAPTER XLVII. 

I have marked out several of the shoals and quicksands of life, in 
order to keep the unwary from running upon them. Addison. 

Long before daylight did I cast my eyes around my room 
at the George, repeating to myself, “ To-day — to-day ! — 
what coming event is it that oppresses me ? — am I to be 
hung, shot, or drowned ? — alas ! this is the day of the 
court-martial, — O somnambulism ! why not let me sleep 
for ever ? and can it really be my friend D’Aquilar ? what 
would I give to prove this all a dream !” I turned on my 
pillow once more ; dozed — started — dozed again ; ten thou- 
sand horrid images crowded on me — till rushing back to life, 
I plunged my head into cold water, and, examining mv 
chronometer, fumed at the tardy sun that only made it eight 
o’clock. However, there is no place where time slips awav 
in a more unheeded manner than at the toilet. First, a 
slight study of the outward man, and then a page of what- 
ever book may be at hand — a reverie — a start — lastly an 
application of Rigby to your palms — a thought if the keys 
of your desk are in your pocket — and then a descent on 
china — coffee- cups . 

At half-past nine, I once more found myself with D’Aqui- 


390 CAVENDISH ; OR, 

iar. He was dressed in his full uniform, and fetterless : in 
order to make up for which semblance of liberty another 
sentry had been placed at his door. No one sentence did 
he breathe relative to the interview of last night. He in- 
formed me that he had made his will, and disposed of all his 
unentailed property : I was about to make some remark 
respecting his despondency, but he instantly quitted the 
subject, and made not the slightest further allusion to him- 
self. His spirits were cheerful, and his manners more 
dignified than usual. At a quarter to ten the sentry en- 
tered, to inquire if the prisoner were ready to attend the 
court. 

“ Quite so/’ replied D’Aquilar. — “ Good bye. — This 
packet to yourself, you will open to-morrow. Captain 
Robert Sawyer very kindly wrote to me from town, some 
days since, inquiring into the truth of this unhappy business, 
and offering his services. This is my answer — make my 
kindest respects to him, and once more farewell.” He held 
out his hand, and hurriedly turned his face aside. 

“You forget,” I replied, taking it in mine, “we shall 
meet again after the court-martial.” 

“ True — we shall ; but, as I said before, the present hour 
is for me, the future is your own.” 

The provost- martial entered. D’Aquilar looked at me, 
and faintly smiled, surveyed his cell for a moment, heaved a 
strangled sigh, and then accompanied that officer to the 
main- deck ; where, in the captain’s fore-cabin, was held the 
court, composed of Sir Hurry Blackchops, as president, and 
eight captains, as members. 

As I followed the prisoner, the comparison between his 
fine commanding form, and those of many of the officers 
thronging around, presenting itself, tempted the tongue to 
curse that sad jade Destiny, for not awarding such a fate to 
one less worthy of admiration. 

The court having been duly sworn in, and opened, the 
first witness called was Peter Potberry, late boatswain of 
H.M. S. Vindictive. 

As it would be tedious to give the long series of question 
and answer in court-martial form, and as not even the 
authority of the president could keep the rude seamen 
strictly within their bounds, loose as these are, compared 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


39! 

with legal evidence on shore, we shall allow “ Jack's” story 
to stand for itself, as nearly as possible. 

“ On the morning of of , I was standing on 

the forecastle, giving directions to my yeoman, as how he 
wasn’t to let the master chisel he out o’ any more number 
sivin duck to make his boy Bill two pair of trowsers, when 
Tom Callaghan, fore-top-man, told me the captain wanted 
me in his cabin ; so I goes aft, and finds un walking up and 
down in a reg’lar line. ‘ Mr. Potberry,’ said he, ‘ get 
your cat-o’-nine tails immediately, and see that you knot 
the ends of them, for I’m going to flog Mr. Daggerbar.’ 

‘ Mr. Daggerbar, sir,’ said I, and I stares at un; ‘I’d rather 
you should cut every bit o’ skin off my back, sir, than com- 
pel me to raise a lash against Mr. Daggerbar ; he’s one 
of the bestest seamen, and the kindest officer in the ship.’ 

‘ D — n you, sir !’ says he, 4 d’ye think I called you here to 

ax your opinion on the subject ? I tell ye he’s a d d 

scoundrel, and you’re anither, and if you don’t get your cat 
immediately. I’m d — d if I don’t put vou under arrest, 
and’ ” 

Here he was interrupted by the president. Sir Hurry, a 
pompous, little, sharp-faced, would-be aristocrat, more no- 
torious for his liberality in words than any thing else, which 
words contained nothing worth hearing save their folly, 
and that was of an odd description. He had an unfortunate 
knack of twisting every thing he uttered into the greatest 
confusion, slewing all his sentences and names end-for-end, 
(to speak nautically,) and one of his favourite sentences was, 
“That’s a most material fact ! a most, a most fact material.” 
And he now called Peter Potberry to order, thus : — 

“ Nay — stay — Mr. Berrypot, mason’s-boat.” 

“ An’ please you, admiral,” interrupted Mr. Grindem, 
king’s advocate, “ you — you mistake — Mr. Potberry, boat- 
swain’s mate.” 

“ Ah, ah ! truly, yes, that’s very material. Well, witness, 
I have to remark that you must avoid the oaths of use, and, 
and — ehm ! — give your purpose more to the evidence.” 

Now the witness, who was a thorough tar, did not seem 
to relish this interruption : and moreover, not knowing the 
admiral’s failings, he could not understand him. “ 1 don’t 
know exactly what your honour manes, if ye minds the oath 


CAVENDISH ; OR, 


392 

I took, to speak the whole truth, and nothing else ; but I 
merely says what the captain said to me ; and if so be, ye 
see, as that doesn’t please your honours, why, I’ll thank ye 
to let me make sail, ’cause I doesn’t half like this being a 
wickedness, where a fellow’s words may be chopped and 
twisted into a yarn to hang a gemman, and a oshiffer like 
Mr. Daggerbar.” 

" Stay, sir, stay,” interrupted the president, “ take care 
how you infringe upon the dignity of the court; that is a 
very material point ; so proceed.” 

“ I don’t want to fringe the dignity of the court, your 
honour; only there’s a wast difference, as ye may say, 
’twixt an admiral with an indication, like yoursel’, and a 
boatswain. I only spakes what I knows, and knows what 
I spakes ; where did I shorten sail, little Bobby ?” 

This last was addressed to a short, thick-set seaman near 
him, Robert Blackburn, his mate, while the boatswain 
rubbed his head. “ Why, Peter,” loudly whispered Bobbv, 
“ didn’t ye haul up your clue-lines just as the skipper — the 
captain, I meant to say, was going to disrate ye on the 
ship’3 books, my jewel ?” 

“ Ah, bo, true ; well, your honours, I’d a mind rather to 
have my name razeed, and warrant ta’en to light a pipe, than 
flog Mr. Daggerbar; but then I thought, what would Bess 
Potberry say to her little ones in Catwater, when she went 
to draw my pay ? So I goes to my store-room and got the 
cat, and then went into the cabin, with my jacket doffed. 
Jist as I got past the sentry, I heard the captain hallooing, 

* Save me, spare me ;’ and not knowing which of the two his 
honour meant, I stood still, thinking in that case I might 
do both. I had scarcely brought myself to an anchor, when 
bouse flied the after- cabin door open, and there was the cap- 
tain, with his own sword stuck through him, and pinned to 
the panels, like a bat to a barn door.” 

“ Blessth my thsoul ! ” muttered one of the members, 
lifting up a metal-headed cane, “ whath would Mrs. Hum- 
bug have thsaid, to have seen me thso ?” and he gave the 
president a nudge, who, stiffly turning round, said slowly, 

“ Why, Captain Humbug, I opine that Mrs. Humbug would 
have said that it was very material . — Put that down, Mr. 
Grindem, Peter Berrypot saw the captain stuck through his 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


393 


*wn sword, and pinned to his barn-door, like a pat on the 
banels.” 

At this ridiculous nonsense a universal titter was heard. 
“ Silence, silence ! no laughing : I will have the court of 
the dignity kept up. Mr. Berrypot proceed/’ 

“ Well, your honours, I thought it best to call the sen- 
try.” 

“Stay, sir, stay; but a few minutes since you were 
anxious to tell the whole truth ; now, sir, you lean to the 
contrary. Who did you see in the cabin besides Captain 
Cobbit ?” 

Here the boatswain hung his head ; but being further 
pressed, said he saw Mr. Daggerbar. 

“ Oh, oh ! Mr. Daggerpot ; so we learn now that you 
saw Mr. Berrybar there ; and how was he looking ?” 

“ Like a gemman, sir,” said the boatswain ; this pro- 
duced a roar, the heartier for its long suppression. 

“ Silence in the court.” 

4 ‘ Ay, that’s what I say — unfeeling lubbers ! if they were 
going to be hung they’d laugh in queerish style, 1 guess,” 
muttered the angry old tar. 

“ Truly, witness, I don’t doubt the gentility of such a 
deed, and such a place ; but how was he standing — how was 
he looking ?”. 

“ I’m sartain, sir, I hardly minds ; but if I don’t mistake, 
he was looking very sorry, and quite struck comical an ye 
may say.” 

“ Oh ! Mr. Grindem, put that down, looking very sorry, 
and, on the whole, rather comical — very material indeed, 
very material ! ” 

“Fothfendmaystarth, quite thso,” rejoined Captain Hum- 
bug. 

“ But, Mr. Daggerpot ” 

“ Really, president, I must beg your pardon, but you do 
make such odd mistakes, — there is no such a person in court. 
Witness’s name is Potberry ; from that you got it to Berrypot, 
and now you’ve got it to Daggerpot. Poor man! he’s had a 
salt time enough of it at sea, without coming here to b spotted” 

“Very, true, Mr. Grindem. Gentlemen of the court, 1 
beg pardon,” said Sir Hurry, much offended ; “ I wish 
people’s names were more rational.” 


394 


CAVENDISH ; OR, 

“ So do I, Admiral Blackchops rejoined the advocate. 

“ Now, then, witness, was there any blood upon th 
prisoner’s person, or did you observe any thing in his mar 
ner that would indicate his having killed Captain Cobbit ? 

“ As to that, your honour, I knows nothing about it. I 
went and told the first-leaftenant, and never came aneist the 
place again.” 

A few cross questions followed, when James Ramshotham 
was called, as having rushed to the cabin with some others 
when the shriek was heard. He was the sentry. This evi- 
dence was but a repetition of what the reader already knows. 

Lord Nabbem was then sworn ; and his evidence tended 
much the same way, saving that part which imputed the 
opening of the scuttle to D’Aquilar ; and the only important 
part of his evidence was as follows : — 

“ On the morning of , Mr. Peter Potberry, the boat- 

swain, came on the quarter-deck, and hurriedly communi- 
cated to me that the captain W’as wounded in his after-cabin. 
I immediately went there, and found the captain transfixed 
to his door with his own sword. The sentry and several 
officers, attracted by his shrieks, had rushed in, and was 
taking the body down. The prisoner was standing with his 
arms folded, leaning for support against the captain’s sofa. 

I did not see his hands, nor, at the time, remark what I ob- 
served on the following day, namely, some spots of blood up- 
on his dress. His eyes were fixed as if in horror, seemingly 
unconscious of what was passing around, and perfectly pale. 
It instantly struck me that he was the perpetrator of the 
deed. I looked at him, and asked what was the meaning of 
all this. He started — made no reply; but sunk upon the 
captain’s sofa, which was near him. I then ordered the 
prisoner into confinement, and gave him in charge to the 
sentry ; but he was found to be in a fit. The surgeon hav- 
ing examined the body of Captain Cobbit, declared him to 
be dead. I then directed his attention to the prisoner, when 
the surgeon sent me a written statement, declaring that Mr. 
D’Aquilar was too seriously ill to be confined in irons, as the 
case otherwise demanded. I now consigned him to his 
medical care, until such time as the danger might be passed 
and, weighing anchor, I took command of the ship, to the 
end that we might have the admiral’s orders as soon as pos- 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


395 


sible ; and having made sail for Rio, we found him lying 
there. The admiral selected the principal witnesses, put the 
prisoner under my charge, and sent us home in the Glat- 
ton.” 

Lord Nabbem having been cross-questioned, several 
others were examined, whose evidence all tended to the 
same point ; and one William Copperorn gave the following 
evidence, on being cross- questioned. 

“ Are you aware, witness, whether the captain’s previous 
conduct to the prisoner was such as to excite any malice 
prepense ?” 

The sailor rolled his quid once or twice, gave his waist- 
band a hitch, more majorum, and pulling his front lock, 
answered, with a scrape, “ An’ save your honour, I don’t 
know what Molly’s expense may be.” 

“ I wish the court would refrain from laughing. Wit- 
ness, I mean aforethought.” 

This was more perplexing than ever ; and, looking up 
with simplicity, he replied, “ Blow me, your honour, if I 
knows your meaning. The fore-thawt is in the bows of 
the boat, whereas ye see the skrimmage happened in the 
captain’s cabin.” 

“ Oh, these sailors ! they are stupid beyond all endu- 
rance,” said Grindem. “ My man, you do not understand 
the question. Did Captain Cobbit ever do anything which 
was likely, in your opinion, to raise a wish in the prisoner’s 
breast of killing his captain.” 

“ Yes, your honour, scores o’ times.” 

At this asseveration the court seemed surprised. But 
Will Copperorn had been too harshly treated himself to 
fear any of them. Besides, his one-and-twenty years’ ser- 
vitude had expired six months since ; and three days before, 
he obtained the first payment of his pension, and he had 
now determined to leave his Majesty’s service, and embark 
in the mercantile line ; but before doing so, all his ship- 
mates had spirited him up to uncover a few of Captain 
Cobbit’s “ black acts and as he conducted himself in his 
examination, so was he to fare in a subscription which the 
seamen of the Glatton had determined to raise on being 
paid off. The iron rod of tyranny had pressed so hard, 
that the meanest worm had turned, with his mite, to punish 


396 


CAVENDISH ; OR, 


the oppressors ; and, conducted by one who knew what he 
was about, they set to work in such a manner, that malice 
could lay no hold of them. 

“ Scores of times, sir ! What do you mean ?” said the 
president, with his plumes rather ruffled. “ Mr. Grindem, 
I’ll thank you for a sheet of paper to put that down, for it’s 
very material .” 

“ Why, Sir Hurry/’ replied Grindem, “ I never bring 
any paper into court with me, having once been cautioned 
on that head by Admiral Sir Isaac Corpse .” 

“ Oh !” rejoined Sir Hurry, disappointed ; then turning to 
the witness, “ explain yourself, sir.” 

“ Why, sir, I’ll tell ’e. In the first place, whenever Cap- 
tain Cobbit thought the men had’nt done as much as he 
wished, he used to put sixteen waters to the grog ; so that 
’stead of having a short half-pint to drink, we had more nor 
a quart. Well, your honour, ’twas impossible for a tar to 
drink such stuff as that ; so the messes refused to come for 
it, and away it goes overboard. All the men, in course, 
thought ’twasn’t right to sarve us in that way ; and four o’ 
the ship’s company and myself spent the arternoou watch, 
one day, in reading the Articles of War, as they hung under 
the half-deck, three times over. And they said all about 
court- marshall’s, and casheering, and death, and all that ; 
but ne’er a one of us could no where find a word about 
starting the grog.” 

“ But what, sir, has this to do with the question of malice 
aforethought ?” « 

“ Yes, your honour, I’m coming to that by’m bye. 
Howsomever, when w r e found this, we determined next 
time to go aft, and demonstrate, as we’d been told to do, 
whenever we had any thing to complain of. The cap- 
tain didn’t let us wait for it long; the foretop-men, one 
night, were ten seconds over time in reefing their taup-sail, 
so the next day, down come Sixteen Grog Jack, as we 
called the purser’s steward, and says, 4 My boys, here ye 
have it ; sixteen waters to day ; but the master says he’s 
short o’ w r ater, so the captain’s ordered salt water instead !’ ” 

At this a murmur of indignation was heard. “ Blessth 
mythsoul!” said Captain Humbug, “ how my exthalted 
wife would condemn that proceedingth !” 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 397 

<f Put that down,” rejoined his worthy president ; “ for 
that is very material. Well, sir, proceed.” 

“ Soon as this was known, your honour, all the ship’s 
company swarmed forward in the eyes of her ; some wanted 
to take the ship, and make strait for the admiral ; some 
worse : but at last we managed to cool ’em down, and I 
and Jim Ramsbotham ” 

“ Stay, witness, stay,” said the president, in an angry 
pompous tone ; “I veritably suspect, William Copper- 
bottom, that both you and that other witness, Ramshorn, 

have in your evidence submitted . I really wish the 

gentlemen would refrain from laughing ; it very ill becomes 

the occasion of such a dignity . More, I say, 

much more than is necessary ; take care, therefore, how 
you lay yourself open.” 

“ Your honour axed me a question, and I’m gidding 
an answer ; but if your honour wishes me to sit down. I’d 
just as soon.” 

“ No, sir, the court orders you to give evidence touching 
the prisoner, and refrain from all other matter as much as 
possible.” 

“Just so, your honour; I’m coming to it. Well, we 
agreed, when the watch was called, for every one on us to 
go upon the quarter-deck in a body, and ax to see the cap- 
tain ; and directly as the boatswain’s mate. Bob Blackburn, 
called the watch, up we went. 

“ The captain was standing on a carronnade slide, and 
when he saw us all wait and come aft in two bodies, the 
starboard watch on one side, and the larboard watch on the 
other, he turned as pale as death, and springing on the 
deck, roars out, down the gun-room, * Where are the offi- 
cers ? here’s mutiny.’ However, we takes no notice of this, 
but moors the whole body of us in the line of a crescent, 
just afore the companion hatch, and all of us lifting our hats 
and spaking at once, ‘ We wishes to spake a word with you. 
Captain Cobbit.’ — ‘ Spake to me ?’ says he, ‘ I’ll spake to 
ye with muskets. Where are the marines?’ ‘Here we are, 
sir,’ says them, ‘ we want to spake to ye.’ Seeing how 
things were likely to go, he came and stood at the capstan. 
‘ Well,’ says he, ‘ what do you want ?’ — * Why, sir, we 
wants to demonstrate with you ; ’cause as how within the 


398 CAVENDISH ; OR, 

last five months you’ve started the grog overboard thirty- 
six times, and now you’ve mixed it with salt-water. We’ve 
been looking, sir, at the Articles of War, and can’t see 
nothing whatsomever about it there, so we’ve come to ax 
your honour to show us the instructions.’ — ‘ Instructions !’ 

says he, ‘ you’re a d d mutinous set of rascals, and I 

order you to leave the quarter-deck directly ; those be my 
instructions;’ — ’cause now his officers were come up round 
us, and he didn’t seem to care so much about us. ‘ Plase, 
sir,’ says we, 4 you told us to come aft, and complain of our 
grassions, and now you won’t hear us. What be we to do? 
We don’t think his Majesty allows his servants to be stop- 
ped of their grog, unless they’m paid for it; and we haven’t 
touched a farding.’ ‘ What the devil do you want ?’ says 
he ; ‘ Ramsbotham, Roberts, and Copperorn, step aft here.’ 
This he said to three of us who had been speaking ; ’cause 
the rest seeing as how all talking at once made only a noise, 
gi’d it up to us. ‘ Step aft here,’ says the captain, ‘ I’ll 
teach you what it is to become ringleaders ; and you, you 
little rascal,’ seizing Roberts’s boy by the arm, ‘ what busi- 
ness have you here ? ’twas only yesterday morning that the 
first-lieutenant had to flog you ; little rascal, I’ll flog you 
again. Boatswain’s mate, tie that boy up.’ 4 Plase, sir,’ 
says Roberts (the father), ‘ my boy only came up with the 
rest; he didn’t intend to do any thing wrong.’ — ‘Hold your 
tongue, you mutinous scoundrel ! I’ll flog you. Here, 
seize Roberts up; carpenters, rig the gratings; Clerk, fetch 
the Articles of War.’ 

“ Well, your honour, we didn’t know what to do ; we 
* didn’t wish to commit a mutiny, so there was no help for it. 
Roberts was seized up, and the surgeon said he wasn’t fit to 
be flogged, as he’d only just left the sick list. ‘ It’s a lie !’ 
said the captain ; and having read the Articles of War, he 
proceeded to punish our shipmate. The ninth lash made 
un faint, and the surgeon demonstrated ; however, ’twas no 
use ; he had to drink some wine, and the cat was applied 
again. Three times he fainted ; and then he was taken un- 
der the half- deck, and put into a hammock; and the captain 
swore, if he heard another word, he’d flog the first man who 
spoke. 

11 It was aisy to see all demonstrance was no use, so down 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


399 


we went ; one half of the men voting to take the ship, the 
others to wait a little ; and the last had it. Next morning 
Roberts died, and that afternoon he was thrown overboard ; 
then his son, little Tim, fell sick, and swore his father came 
to his hammock in the night, and told un this wasn’t the 
place for a son of his, and desired un to leave the ship. 
Some of the rest of the men also saw the dead father. So 
the boy couldn’t do his work, and the first-lieutenant being 
sick, Mr. Whatalie, who was doing his duty, had him flogged 
on the forecastle, and threatened, if he did not do his duty 
better, he should be flogged again. Next morning he 
jumped overboard, and said to one of his messmates that 
his father told him to do so. 

“ Well, your honour, the captain still went on flogging 
away, and the only officers that didn’t help him were afraid 
to say any thing, save Mr. Daggerbar, who didn’t belong to 
the ship ; so several of the ship’s company axed un to go 
and demonstrate with the captain again, and told him that 
Roberts and his son came on board every night at six bells 
(eleven), and sat till three bells in the morning watch 
(half-past one), one, each side of the galley fire, when they 
vanished, first one, then t’other, up the funnel ; ’cause as 
how the copper was kept bright by the black-list men. The 
captain only swore at Mr. Daggerbar, said he’d do as he 
liked with his own men, refused to forward their request to 
the admiral for a court-martial, and ordered Mr. Daggerbar 
to walk the deck for a week, with his sword and cucked- 
hat on. 

That night Roberts wasn’t seen in the galley ; but Rams- 
botham, who was sentry by accident, suddenly heard the 
captain unlock his cabin door, and call for a light, saying 
that some persons were concealed within. On bringing in 
a light, there was Roberts and his son, one at the head of 
the captain’s cot, and t’other at the foot. The captain he 
shivered and trembled, but swore he could see nothing ; and 
swearing at the sentry, turned him out of the cabin, but 
kept the lantern. Next day, the captain had promised to? 
flog three men, but he let them all off ; and for a month 
every thing went on very smooth. Roberts and his son 
were never seen in the galley, and the captain always kept a 
light in his cabin. At the end of the month they took up 


400 


CAVENDISH ; OR, 


their old station again and told some of the men that they 
had been demonstrating with the captain, who was going to 
behave more rashionarv, and in course they vrere now going 
to leave the ship; but if he went back to his old ways, they'd 
be at him again. 

“ Well, your honour, the night that the captain was killed, 
the sentry, going into the cabin, found old Roberts sitting 
at the head of the corpsis, and his son at the bottom, laugh- 
ing away with all their might.” 

“ Well, William Copperbottom,” said the president, very 
angrily, interrupting him for about the fiftieth time, “ what 
has this to do with the question put to you ?” 

“ Why your honour axed me whether the captain had 
ever given Mr. Daggerbar cause to wish to shoot him, and 
I said, * Yes, scores of times ;’ and so he did, not only to 
him, but to every man in the ship ; but whether Mr. Dag- 
gerbar did wish to shoot him or no, I can’t tell your 
honours.” 

It was very clear that the prisoner’s name had been made 
an excuse for bringing this story of the captain’s tyranny 
to light ; and the court having severely rated the witness, 
they examined Ramsbotham and Potberry, and heard the 
evidence of Blackburn, the boatswain’s mate, with others, a 
great part of which was rejected ., the case for the prosecu- 
tion closed, and the prisoner was asked what time he wished 
to have for getting up his defence. 

“ None,” he replied; “ for no defence will be offered to 
you.” 

This was his repeated answer to the suggestions of both 
foes and friends, and they were at last obliged to clear the 
court, previous to coming to a decision, much to the regret 
of some of the junior captains, whose commiseration for 
D’Aquilar had been excited by the manifest injustice and 
provocation which he had received. 

Both president and king’s advocate had been taking down 
notes during the trial : and they were now handed over to 
the former, who having scrutinized, in legal form, with his 
glasses, (which more, however, betokened age in him, than 
aught besides,) he began the following sum up, in which, 
whatever was lost in perspicuity, was made up in pomposity. 

“ Officers and gentlemen ; — in the present most impor- 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


401 

tant case, it behoves us more especially to proceed with ex- 
treme caution : first, as having to protect the best interests 
of our highly-honoured profession, and next, to temper the 
sentence which we pass with whatever mercy is in our power, 
seeing that the prisoner has indubitably suffered under much 
oppression. 

“ Gentlemen ! — with your leave, I shall slightly recapitu- 
late the evidence. The witnesses which appear to me to be 
most material are,” (reading from the advocate’s notes,) 
“ Lord Nabbem, Peter Potberry, Robert Blackburn, James 
Ramsbotham, and William Copperorn. Now, gentlemen, 
in the first place, we have the evidence of Potberry, to prove 
that the cabin, at the time of the murder, contained solely 
the captain, the prisoner, and himself. This, you will 
recollect, was corroborated by — ahem — by — what’s his 
name ?” glancing at the paper; “yes, this evidence of 
Blackberry’s was corroborated by Potburn, the chain of 
which* is still more strongly riveted by Ramshorn, and then 
again slightly by ©opperbottom. But to the self of my 
conviction, no evidence could lead more directly to the 
point than that of Lord Nabbem. However, not to judge 
hastily, I beg you will go over the respective evidences of 
— Blackberry, Pot — Bot — Pot — Burnpot — no, what is it ? 
O yes, Potburn, Ramshorn, and Copperbottom, and — ahem 
— after due consideration you will be decisioned to come to 

enable Positively, gentlemen, your laughing is very ill- 

timed, I may say indecorous. I should almost be led to 
conclude from it that I had made some mistake.” 

“ Imposthible, Admiral Blackchopsth ! — Mrs. Humbug’s 
opinion is, that you are the most correcth of men ; and I 
think that your exposthition is mosth luminouth.” 

The president bowed to old Humbug’s compliment, and 
proceeded : — If, therefore, gentlemen, you should con- 
sider the chain of proof of these four witnesses, Potburn, 
Blackberry, Ramshorn, and Copperbottom, — more espe- 
cially of the mason’s boat ” 

“ Boatswain’s mate, president !” said Grindem. 

“ I beg pardon — boatswain’s mate — so it is. Well, then, 
touching the evidence of this said mason’s boat : — should 
you consider all possibility of an alibi out of the question, 
(which, by-the-bye, has never been proved, nor, indeed, any 

2 D 


402 


CAVENDISH ; OR, 

defence,) and are convinced in your own minds of the guilt 
of the prisoner, I really don’t see how you can come to any 
other concision. If, on the other hand, you should reject 
the strong chain of verbal — that is to sav — oral evidence of 
said witnesses Blackpot, JBerryburn, Copperram, and Black- 
bottom — no, no — Copperpot, Ramshorn, and Horn — Berrv- 
burn Really, gentlemen/* said the perplexed presi- 

dent, starting up in a perfect rage, “ these cursed names 
are so confounding, that I can make nothing of them. 
Mr. Grindem, I beg that you will sum up the evidence !’* 
flinging over the notes to the other ; when the remainder of 
his harangue slumbered in death before its birth ; and well 
it was so. 

The reader may perceive from the specimen before him, 
that the speech contained nearly as much nonsense as Sir 

C. W *s orations, though not coming quite np to 

them in the vulgarity of conceptions and simile. Having 
wrangled and argued until all their heads were aching, 
and their dinners waiting, they divided ; and the president, 
as might have been expected of him gave his casting vote 
for the prisoner’s death. 

This resolved on, the court was again opened, and the 
prisoner replaced at the bar. 

The president first read the Article of War which had been 
violated, and then pronounced the sentence. 

Every hope had now vanished. Not a single trace of 
emotion, no temporary absence of the calm self-possession 
he had hitherto maintained, was visible on D’Aquilar’s coun- 
tenance. The president was about to dissolve the court, 
when the prisoner requested a moment’s hearing. He had 
not troubled them, he said, with a defence ; and now only 
requested as a personal favour, that they would allow him 
the privilege of addressing a few sentences to them. 

After a demur as to the irregularity, the request was 
granted. 

“ Loaded, gentlemen, as I am with dishonour,** began 
poor Ernest, scarcely able from the intensity of his feelings 
to compel one word to follow another, until the lapse of a 
few seconds enabled him to master even this evidence of his 
agitation, “ and covered with opprobrium — stripped, like a 
sapling in winter, of every kindred whom my fame might 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


403 

glad, or my fall disgrace, — it boots but little now to address 
a world, whose ceaseless censure has ever been despised, 
whose judgment will so soon be over. Still, I would not 
even that the world — mean, despicable, base, and cringing 
as 1 have found it — should hold me to be the cold, relentless 
murderer my enemies would paint me. It would indeed be 
easy, gentlemen, here to paint to you the first generous glow 
of ardour with which I entered the service— the hope of 
glory, and the vow that distinction should be mine — the firm 
determination to devote my energies to the profession I had 
embraced. All these were quickly chilled — not dissipated ; 
and I might still have been, if not all my ambition hoped, 
at least unbreathed upon by dishonour, had not my fate been 
cast with that of a foul tyrant. Gentlemen — you who are 
both my judges and my jury, what would have been your 
feelings, if any of your own offspring stood in the situation 
which has been awarded to me ? and yet it might have been 
so — nay, it is even yet within the possibility of time, for who 
can guard against oppression ? I will not now adduce my 
testimonials, but belief will be granted me when I say they 
did me honour; nor till I was lent to H. M. ship Vindic- 
tive, had calumny the power to breathe upon my name. You 
know the slight offence for which a disgraceful punishment 
was to have been inflicted on me ; you know that the offence 
was never mine ; but granting that it had been so, how could 
I have acted ? Passion, I am well aware, prompted and 
executed the deed which led me here ; but had weeks been 
granted me for consideration, what could have been the al- 
ternative ? A chastisement was threatened me — a chastise- 
ment far beyond the offence — which was to stamp my name 
with eternal infamy — to spread one lasting blush upon my 
brow, as deep in dye as his heart’s blood, that should have 
washed it clear 

Here the warmth of his feelings seemed to carry him 
away, and he appeared lost to all save his own remembrance; 
the court was evidently moved in his favour, and listened 
with deep attention ; his old friend the boatswain, in the 
corner, seemed affected almost to tears, and while his face 
wore the sullen, determined air of one resolved to bind down 
his softer feelings, his eye glistened, and the corners of his 
mouth became slightly convulsed despite of him. When 
2 d 2 


404 CAVENDISH ; OR, 

any sentence more than another seemed to awaken his ad- 
miration, he burst forth into an exclamation — “That’s fine 
— there’s heliquence,” remarks that not even the authority of 
the provost-marshal could keep w T ithin the due bounds of 
decorous observation. 

D’Aquilar continued — “ There was certainly one alterna- 
tive — to wait the deed and purge it with a duel ; but then, 
in thought, my errors would have had a deeper dye. Again, I 
should have prevented — ay, but how ? Where was the re- 
treat from such a tiger’s den ? It would in truth be a bit- 
ter mockery to inform you — all sailors who well know the 
fact — that I was completely in his power. No arm could 
come between us — the men, I knew, were ripe for mutiny 
— that you have heard ; but I had a duty to perform to my 
sovereign. Entreaty — ay, even ‘ on my knees, that never 
knelt to any but their God before,’ was had recourse to, and 
that failed. What then remained ? Defence — resistance 

to the last, alone was mine : for the mild sleep of death is 
better than a life of infamy — though not the death that 
should have given him a triumph. No — no — no. Ernest 

D’Aquilar should never have been his second victim, who 
flew from the fate awaiting him, into the arms of suicide ; 
nor, had time been given me, would I have taken advantage 
evert of the villain I have slain. At least he should have 
been equally armed with myself ; but no, I have to thank my 
God that no opportunity was afforded me to become a ho- 
micide, even in contemplation, though my arm was raised in 
self-defence. His intentions came upon me like the tornado 
— sudden, overwhelming, irresistible. I yielded to its force, 
and though some regret arises at my wreck, the choice I 
made amidst surrounding dangers, fatal as it was, not all 
the consideration of a prisoner’s dungeon has been able to 
amend. The accomplishment of his designs would have 
wrung my heart far more than any memory of the past. 
That might have bowed my spirit to despair — this teaches 
it to soar beyond.” 

“ Oh, that’s fine !” exclaimed the boatswain. 

“ Defence I would not make — defence is the sad necessity 
of crime. In me, it was a crime that drew forth my 
defence, which needs not be defended ; nor do I think the 
letter of the law would bear vour sentence out. What say 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


405 

the Articles of War? ‘Any officer, seaman, or mariner in 
the fleet, who shall draw, or offer to draw, or ‘ lift up any 
unlawful weapon against his superior officer, he being in the 
execution of his office , shall suffer death/ But Captain 
Cobbit was not in the execution of his office. He was 
acting against the positive order of the Lord High Admiral, 
which forbids even a seaman — that seaman being a petty 
officer — to be flogged before he has been disrated. And 
here he takes a gentleman, an officer, whose education and 
rank in life are far above the footing of the poor seaman, 
over whose interests the illustrious Duke of Clarence so 
kindly watches, and, without divesting him of his rating, 
proceeds to flog that officer in a private manner in his 
cabin : nor even deigns to read the Articles of War, with 
which he may not dispense in punishing the lowest sweep 
on board. Can any conduct be more illegal than such a 
wanton violation ? My life is gone — past — flown ! a few 
brief, fleeting seconds scarcely now remain : but had I an 
immortality of being, it should be devoted, till the last sand 
were trembling to its fall, in entering my dying protest 
against the tyranny that disgraces the British naval disci- 
pline on every side. 

“ Why dwell upon this scene ? Why fret for such a life, 
that soonest eats into decay the soul it honours most ? Why 
is it ? These scorching tears may tell. Because my burst- 
ing heart, but poorly weaned from all the fading glories 
of the world, will cling, despite of me, to dreams of sunny 
hours. But I will wrench the feeling from me. To no tri- 
bunal have I ever looked, saving my conscience ; — that 
yields me its applause — that says it was a deed necessity im- 
pelled — but inclination shuddered at the view. The con- 
stituents of my character are unchanged. I might have died 
a hero, you pronounce it felon — how vain for man to 
struggle with the woof of destiny ! And yet I stand not 
here alone. How many now drag through a life bowed 
down with a sense of shame, upon whose broken, lacerated 
heart the lash has left its withering trace ! How many a 
deed of vengeance has found out the aggressor, or spirits 
feeling less have mounted life with honour — still, amidst 
the tinsel glittering round themselves, can find within their 
core, the bitter memory of such an hour — an aching, ease 


406 


CAVENDISH ; OR, 


can never lull, nor opiate time allay ! Say, then, should 
Britain permit this open violation of her laws ? I need not 
tell you that the noblest spirits have the deepest feeling ; 
if so, how many a burning heart must be excluded from her 
service, knowing that the arm of wanton power, malice, or 
revenge, can wield a power like this to crush them ; nor 
holding forth to their despair one glimmering of retreat, 
saving in what the world calls murder — but which I name 
self-defence. While those who truly deserve the thong, 
and those who could submit to bear it, had better leave a 
service which their deeds will never honour. My God be 
praised, that case was never mine ; for I have trod the 
classic shores of freedom, and nurtured there a spirit which 
oppression shall but rouse, and scorn in vain assail. 

“ ‘ Tis still a watchword to the earth — 

When man would do a deed of worth, 

He points to Greece, and turns to tread, 

So sanction’d, on the tyrant’s head ; 

He looks to her, and rushes on, 

Where life is lost, but freedom won,’ ” 

" O that’s titching — that’s fine language, by G ,” 

robbed the boatswain, while a tear stole over his lid. 

A murmur was heard, but many hearts were too full for 
speaking, else perhaps D’Aquilar had not been allowed to 
proceed uninterrupted so long. Smiling faintly on the 
boatswain, he resumed : — “ This have I done. Though 
grief may somewhat sadden my poor heart, repentance hath 
no shade to cast upon my soul. The past has flown for 
ever, and now impatient claims me for her own. My 
thanks are yours — the courteous ear which you have lent to 
me, I will not now detain. I have no more to say ! 

“ ‘If the bad never triumph, then God is with thee • 

If the slave only sin, thou art spotless and free ; 

If the exile on earth is an outcast on high, 

Live on in thy faith, but in mine I will die.’ ” 

As he uttered this, he drew forth his left hand, which had 
hitherto been placed in his bosom, when the president ex- 
claimed, starting up in an agony, “ Defend me, gentlemen !” 
for he imagined that the prisoner was about to shoot him : 
but he wronged D’Aquilar greatly. How shall I express 
the creeping horror that thrilled through every being, when 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


407 


first giving a glance towards me, he then applied his hand 
(in which I beheld something glitter) to his mouth, and 
swallowed a bright liquid ! Instinctively I sprang to arrest 
his arm, as did many others, but in vain ; he had quite 
drained the contents of a phial, which now dropped from 
his hand, containing the slightest quantity of colourless 
fluid. A universal shriek burst forth, and then rushed to- 
wards him, president and all ; but the Lethean draught had 
freed him from the thrall of man. Quickly the expression 
of animation faded from his features, like the flitting tints 
of evening. The eyelid closed, as if oppressed with torpor, 
while the brilliant glow of beauty that had before lit up 
those orbs with more than mortal life, had already passed 
away. His head drooped upon his shoulder, and he fell 
into the arms of the nearest by-stander, the assistant sur- 
geon. It might have been imagination, but I thought 
that I discovered in the latter's face, more of terror which 
dreads a discovery, than the natural dismay and astonish- 
ment such an event would have been likely to call forth. 

He supported the body in his arms, and taking up the 
empty phial applied it to his nose ; then, handing the same 
over to the surgeon, who was suggesting some antidote, 
exclaimed aloud, “Quite useless, sir; by the smelL it is 
hydrocyanic acid. The pulse is hushed — he's gone.” 

And was it indeed so ? Alas ! — Before me lay the 

wreck of beauty, youth, and manhood. The being that 
wealth had hailed to enjoyment, that rank had heralded 
to greater distinction, to whom ability promised fame, 
virtues, esteem ; the world its love ; the fostered bud of 
many years ; the cherished hope of anxious kindred ; the 
yet green stem which was to bear a name that centuries had 
honoured : — all, all, were now annulled ; the pallid, lifeless 
corpse before me alone remained to realise the whole ; 
while mortal ignominy, and the veil of shortsighted human 
obloquy, stood by to shroud even the memory of his worth ! 

It was one scene of confusion and dismay. Poor Captain 
Humbug, with tears in his eyes, wringing his hands, re- 
called his debt of gratitude to the deceased, muttering t< 
himself, “ Fothfend my starsth ! Blessth my thsoul ! wha 
would Mrs. Humbug say ?” 

“O dear!” rejoined Admiral Black chops, “this is— 
this is a most material affair.” 


408 CAVENDISH ; OR, 

The body was removed to the prison, and almost mecha- 
nically I followed — his sole friend amid so many hundreds. 
As I bent towards the face, the strong odour of laurel 
recalled to my remembrance poor D’Aquilar’s strong, and, 
as it had always appeared to me, absurd presentiment on 
this subject. 

“ Surely this cannot be laurel water which he has taken ?” 
I inquired of the assistant-surgeon. 

Oh, no ! prussic acid,” he replied. 

“ But it has the scent of the laurel.” 

“ True, there is a great resemblance between highly-con- 
centrated laurel-water and the acid, both in its appearance 
and effects. Indeed, the hydrocyanic, or prussic acid, is 
the base of laurel-water ; consequently the acid may be ob- 
tained from it, as well as several other substances : but it is 
generally extracted from the same sources as Prussian blue, 
or common blue-bag, namely, the prussiate of iron, or the 
prussiate of potash, whence the name.” 

How much longer the H£sculapian might have been pleased 
to pursue his learned disquisition, I know not ; but this 
I knew, that D’Aquilar -was no more, that all my wailing 
could not bring him back to life, and that my remaining 
on board, surrounded by the horror that lengthened every 
face, could only be productive of harm to myself. I there- 
fore resolved to depart : and, fearful lest rumour might out- 
strip me, took boat immediately for the Isle of Wight. 

“ Do I sleep ?” was my ejaculation, oft repeated, while I 
dashed my hand upon the gunwale of the boat, as if that 
would dispel the terrible phantasies, and worse realities, that 
oppressed my brain. If existence be a sleep, mine was a 
dreadful dream ; but if it be the thing it seems, ’twas some- 
thing far more horrid. 

On inquiring for Miss Carleton, she was too severely in- 
disposed to see any one : but having sent up my card, I was 
forthwith ushered into her boudoir. 

How powerfully does sorrow dispose the hea~t to love ! 
Nature, in all her maladies, instinctively seeks out the most 
appropriate cordial ? but when the heart has lost a tender 
shoot, how, like the tree, it directs all its sap to those 
thfit still remain ! In nothing is this shown more forcibly 
than in that wretched state of life — the wife and husband 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


409 

at variance. However deep their hate or rancour, should 
their offspring chance to die, some fountain of affection in 
the stony heart springs into life, and both unite to mingle 
grief upon the bier of buried love. Thus it is through na- 
ture, and thus it was with me, when, feeling that D’Aqui- 
lar was lost for ever, my affections once more rushed with 
renewed strength into their old channel towards her whom 
I had resigned for his sake. 

As I entered Letitia’s room, and saw her reclining, pale 
and anguish- stricken, on the sofa, like a lily of the valley 
beginning to fade — more winningly beautiful from the pity 
it excites — I felt every fibre of my heart strain towards her, 
and all the burning emotions of my bosom, which I had vain- 
ly endeavoured to dispel, return back, to concentrate them- 
selves in one little spot with tenfold power; often as the ne- 
cessity of affection had temporarily attached me to some fair 
object, I was assured that I had never loved truly until now. 
Could I have done so without appearing rude, I would have 
stood on the threshold, and mutely dwelt upon the sensa- 
tions of that moment — have analised that ruby drop of Hea- 
ven’s elixir, ere falling, it had mingled its essence with the 
waters of life and, — diffused over their space, — diluted its 
etherial aroma with their vapidity. 

But fortunately all people have not the same degree of in- 
tensity : and I could not stand gazing at the door with any 
better grace, reader, than I can delay thy progress ; I there- 
fore advanced, and taking a seat, felt rather perplexed as to 
my further proceedings. 

“ How relieved I am by your coming, Mr. Cavendish ! 
The night had nearly set in, and I began to fear that I 
should not see you until to-morrow,” said Letitia. “ How 
did you leave poor Ernest ?” 

“ He — is — perfectly — calm — and tranquil,” I replied. 

“ But tell me, tell me, and let me beg of you to forbear 
deception : have they condemned — have they found — him 

?” she could not bring herself to say the fatal word ; 

and struggling to express her meaning, added, after a slight 
pause, “ Is he sentenced ?” When taking my hand be- 
tween hers, she looked at me as much as to say, “ I must 
know the whole.” 

“ That, poor heart !” thought I “ thou could'st not bear !” 


410 CAVENDISH ; OR, 

and hiding my hesitation as much as possible, I replied that 
he was. 

“ Oh ! ring the bell, then, that I may inform my uncle. 
He promised, should such be the result of the trial, to start 
immediately for town, and use his interest to get a pardon. 

I had no alternative. His lordship entered the room ; I 
was introduced to him for the first time ; and suggested the 
propriety of discussing so delicate a subject alone. We re- 
tired, and I communicated to him the deplorable catastrophe. 

That Letitia would be unable to hear the truth with safety 
at present, was obvious to us both. His Lordship promised, 
therefore, to provide against the possibility of its reaching 
her by accident ; and, under pretence of a reprieve, and 
the fever which D’Aquilar’s sentence might be supposed to 
bring on, invent some tale that should prepare her for the 
truth. 

I then returned to Letitia, and, pressing her fair fingers 
to my lips, breathed a prayer on them for her happiness ; 
and departed, amid a greater conflux of emotions than I had 
ever before experienced. 


CHAPTER XLYIII. 

Every good novel has one great end ; the same in all, namely, the in- 
creasing our knowledge of the human heart ; and it is thus that a novel- 
writer must be a philosopher. Whoever succeeds in showing us more 
accurately the nature of ourselves and species, has done science, and 
consequently virtue, the most important benefit — for every truth is a 
moral. tl Pelham.” 

Perchance the reader may have some slight recollection 
that Chapter XXXIII. concluded with the forcible capture 
of Cleanthe Canduretti. Perchance also, his or her interest 
in the fortunes of the lovely modern Greek have not alto- 
gether subsided ; if so, a further perusal will enlighten him 
on that head. 

Of course, reader, after the specimens you have had of my 
moping melancholy, you are prepared for a sorrowful finale. 
Something very horrific, or — but I will not coquette with 
thy feelings — read and see. 

The heart that most acutely feels a petty grief, is not al- 
ways affected in proportion by a heavy affliction. This stuns 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


411 


too much, to let its depth of woe be felt at first ; but, ah ! 
there is an awful revulsion; and after a short space, the blow 
deferred but falls the heavier. 

When returning sense recalled Cleanthe back to all the 
miseries of existence, despair benumbed her with his icy 
hand, and she scarcely heeded that her cabin was pro- 
vided with all the comforts attention could bestow, and 
menials proffer. The Albanian chief having thus dis- 
posed of his charge, returned to the deck, where they were 
crowding all possible sail, to avoid being overtaken by the 
Calliope, which vessel they now perceived at no great dis- 
tance in eager pursuit. The course they steered was direct 
for Napoli di Romania; and on rounding the point of land 
which shut them out from the pursuing vessel, they hoisted a 
red flag, and fired a gun. On the instant a Greek vessel oi 
the same size and rig, and under the same quantity of canvass, 
was seen to leave a neighbouring bay, and steer in the self- 
same direction as that which the pirate had been pursuing. 
The latter immediately shortened sail, and ran in for the land, 
leaving very little save her bare masts to be seen, while even- 
ing closing around, still more favoured the stratagem. In 
a few minutes four men descended from the Greek vessel, 
into a boat alongside, and, hoisting a small sail, made 
for the shore, quickly becoming lost to sight amid the rolling 
waves. 

They had barely escaped, when the Calliope, under all can- 
vass, came in sight ; while the Greek brulot, (for such she 
was,) whose helm had been lashed and train set on fire, be- 
gan to “yaw,” first in one direction, and then in another. 
The Calliope now gained on her rapidly; and had approach- 
ed within a quarter of a mile, when the train communicated 
its fire to the magazine, and left her pursuers, like Lord 
Bathurst, " labouring under an idea,” — not more than one , 
and most deplorable throes does he endure thereby — that 
the pirates, with Cleanthe on board, had blown themselves 
up to escape capture. It was with the greatest glee that 
the Greeks, now close under the land, beheld the success o* 
their deception, and the utter inability of the Calliope tc 
pursue them any further, from the ill-timed impetuosity o 
her commander. 

Leaving her to the fate which the rising gale already 


412 


CAVENDISH ; OR, 


threatened, they pursued their former course, unseen, to 
Napoli di Romania, where they anchored shortly after mid- 
night. At an early hour on the next morning, Cleanthe was 
placed in a boat, and taken on shore. With feelings of 
terror, she gazed upon the fortified heights of the Palimede, 
and beheld the wretched, miserable appearance of a Greek 
town. Looking from that upon the bay, her eye was, how- 
ever, gladdened by the sight of the many floating forts, whose 
well-appointed appearance, and blue flags, proclaimed them 
the property of those lords of the ocean — the English. 

Turning to her Greek attendant, she inquired whither 
they were taking her ; but the menial stared sullenly in her 
face, and remained silent. On landing, she was placed 
upon a mule; and, still guarded, began slowly to ascend 
the Palimede. Having reached its summit, after intermin- 
able windings, she felt in no slight degree relieved by the 
appearance of the national Greek costume, which set aside 
the idea of her having fallen into the hands of the Turks. 

Still every thing was wrapped in perfect mystery : her 
thoughts were dulled by deep misery, and could trace no 
reason for this conduct. Once, indeed, a suspicion, some- 
what allied to the truth, came over her mind ; but with the 
hope, that it might be false, it was instantly dispelled. Suf- 
ficiently mean in appearance were the whole of the houses 
forming the quarters for the officers of the garrison ; but 
into the best of these Cleanthe was conducted. 

Short was the time she had to wait. The door of the 
room where she was sitting, opened, and an Albanian chief, 
whose age might be nearing fifty, entered, bearing in his hand 
a letter. His face bore all those characteristics of manly 
beauty for which his nation has been so famed ; but it was 
a beauty deformed by the deadliest passion. 

“ Abandoned child ! do you not know the being you have 
disgraced ?** came forth, in a voice trembling with rage, but 
in which might still be traced some slight quivering of 
affection. 

“ My father ! O my father !” cried Cleanthe, recognising 
in that sound the parent whose name she had sullied; “say, 
do you forgive me ?” 

“ Never !” be returned, spurning the gentle creature 
from his feet. “ No,” he continued, “ the door of mercy 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


413 


has been closed for years, ay, from the very hour in which 
your folly and depravity allowed a villain to lure you from 
the protection of my friend. Nay, never try to fling your 
wanton arms around my neck, nor kiss my hand, nor strive 
to weep me into softness! Guilty, despicable thing, thy 
very touch will sully a Canduretti. Go, renounced for evei 
as a child of mine ! Ere this, the shark has fed upon your 
paramour ; and for yourself, a life shall not atone for these 
few years of guilty pleasure — ay, a life of hardship, seclusion, 
and repentance, shortening a path of sorrow to the 
grave !" Dashing her from him, the unhappy chief departed, 
having marred, by this unforgiving harshness, even the few 
hours of enjoyment which fate had thrown in his way, anc, 
knitted her more than ever to her seducer. 

On reaching the esplanade before his dwelling, he was 
accosted by a young man, habited in the Albanian dress. 
“ Chief/' said the latter, addressing Canduretti, “ I have 
now accomplished the task which I undertook ; I have re- 
covered your daughter from the Englishman, and I come to 
claim the promised reward — her hand, from yourself." 

“ Washington," (for it was he who in disguise had suc- 
ceeded in gaining her,) replied the other, “ I have been 
attentively considering the subject of which you speak, and 
am convinced that though I were to give her in marriage 
to yourself, still the hand of scorn would fall upon her, — 
still the tongue of calumny would say, 4 Is not this the 
daughter of Canduretti, who basely gave herself to be the 
toy of an English stranger ?’ O no ! 1 cannot bear it. Her 
fate is sealed; some unknown corner of the globe must hide 
her while alive — and entomb her when no more. Once 
absent, memory will soon forget to blast my name with her 
existence." 

“ And for me, chief, what is left? I who have ven- 
tured limb and life in this service, and relinquished into you. 
hands the prize I have fairly gained — am I thus to forego 
the only joy which urged me forward? What is left for 
me ?" 

“ The same as for myself;" replied Canduretti, “ forget- 
fulness." 

“I tell you, Canduretti, I cannot, will not forget — else had 
1 forgotten ere this. Give her to me; 1 will bear her to my 


414 


CAVENDISH ; OR, 


native country, to the free and glorious plains of America, 
3or shall one being know her follies, nor her name, nor 
aught save the virtues which her heart can still display/’ 

“ What, then — and is it you — you who bear the illustrious 
name of Washington, who would take to your bosom the 
contaminated being which the unholy love of another has 
polluted ? Tut, man, the kiss upon her lip will be too rank 
of other mortals’ favours.” 

“ Eternal furies!” returned Washington, the deadly co- 
lourless hue of rage overspreading his sunburnt features, 
“ do I hear a father thus taunting me with a daughter’s frail- 
ties ? Canduretti, you are a villain — you meditate giving her 
hand to another ! No feeling for the disgrace of a name 
she has not tarnished half so deeply as yourself, withholds 
her hand from me — from one who loves her too dearly not 
to forgive a fault into which the affection of her heart has 
hurried her, a fault into which the most sincere of her sex 
are the easiest betrayed. I have thought, dreamed, lived 
upon the burning sorrow that memory has impressed ; but 
I cannot tear her image from my heart, and am still, there- 
fore, willing to cherish herself, and woo her with affection 
back to virtue. By heaven, she shall be mine ! — Ay, proud 
chief, your lip may curl, but think you the hand that tore 
her from a lover’s arms, cannot win her from a pitiless fa- 
ther’s clutch ?” 

“ Are you mad ?” retorted Canduretti. “ Away ! leave 
the fort this hour — this instant — or to-morrow’s sun shall 
rise upon your corpse. Ho ! there, guards ! away with this 
fellow, or spill his blood upon the sand.” 

Washington’s yataghan was half unsheathed, but he 
thrust it back, exclaiming, “ No, — I will live for vengeance, 
deep, implacable vengeance ! False traitor, we shall meet 
again !” then waving his hand, he turned and left the for- 
tress. 

As Washington’s connection with the party of Canduretti 
had been kept a profound secret, he now determined on return- 
ing to his own (that of Gracchus), and aiding more heartily 
than ever in the overthrow of his perfidious enemy, who, as he 
guessed, did in reality intend that his daughter’s hand 
should be bestowed upon some personage of greater power 
than a friendless American. It required very little to spur 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


415 

on the Gracchi to a downright rupture, and a pretext was 
soon found or formed. Canduretti had obtained possession 
of the Paliraede upon condition of surrendering it up again 
very shortly ; and, instigated by Washington, the Gracchi 
now demanded the promised evacuation. This was refused 
— when war was declared between the inhabitants of the 
town and the occupiers of the fortress. 

For the information of my readers, I will just pause to 
observe, that the town of Napoli di Romania is built on a 
low piece of rocky ground, gradually declining at one point 
into a marsh, very little above the level of the sea ; while, 
on the other side an almost perfectly perpendicular cliff, 
surnamed the Palimede, “ like a tall bully lifts its head 
and lies.” And well might it be called a bully, for, 
crowned with a fortress which was deemed impregna- 
ble, the garrison could fire down on the town without let 
or hindrance ; and this they, with true modern Grecian 
magnanimity, at once proceeded to do. 

On a little hill jutting into the sea, Washington* had 
erected a temporary battery of two guns, which he elevated 
sufficiently to bear upon the enemy’s fort, and these he 
served himself ! We happened to be lying off the town at 
the time, and from the Talthorpe’s quarter-deck could be- 
hold to perfection, the whole of the skirmishing, which lasted 
for many days. 

The contest was, as the reader may suppose, full of intense 
interest, when we could see the progress of the shots through 
the air, and watch where they struck : Washington exposed 
himself with the most reckless bravery, and on the last Sun- 
day of its continuance, we observed him firing away as 
usual ; but, to all appearance, though death hissed past 
with every ball, still slaughter would not choose him. 

On the following Monday morning, I was watching the 
scene, when a shot struck one of his two guns, and the men 
immediately fled. Calling them back, he made them load 
and train the other, when they retired again. After taking 
one final look along the sight to perfect his aim, he waved 
his hand with the lighted match above his head, and fired. 
The enemy returned the shot, and he fell : his friends lost 
no time in carrying him on board the Asia, for medical as- 
*The following sad scene occurred in the commencement of the year 1827. 


416 CAVENDISH , OR, 

sistance, but he bad already passed beyond that stage. In 
the agony of death he breathed forth many and bitter 
curses on the land of his birth, from which he was an un- 
willing exile. When on the very point of expiring he 
seemed to recollect something, and desired the assistant- 
surgeon to search for his purse. It contained solely a lock 
of hair. “ Is there nothing else ?” eagerly exclaimed the 
dying man, pressing the hair to his death-parclied lip. 
“ Nothing,” returned the assistant. “ Perdition seize those 
Grecian thieves ! it is stolen — stolen for the paltry gold; 

hut ” he endeavoured to raise his head and explain, 

when sinking on his pillow he expired. 

We must now return to Percy, whose men, seeing how 
unfit he was to command them immediately carried him be- 
low to his cabin, while the master succeeded in getting up 
some spare spars as jury-masts, and spreading on them what 
canvass they could, ran for the nearest port, which chance de- 
termined to be Napoli, the same to which Cleanthe had been 
carried. Overcome with the shock, for many days he con- 
fined himself entirely to his cabin ; but such a spirit as his, 
could not long remain inactive ; and, casting away his le- 
thargy, as a man at morn flings off his nightcap, he became 
as furiously active as he had before been inert. In a fort- 
night, the Calliope once more swam upon the ocean all a- 
taunto. With the death of Washington, the enmity, or at 
least the firing, between the Palimede and town ceased ; 
when several of the English officers wished to walk over the 
fortress, and see what damage it had sustained from the 
American's battery. The Calliope was to sail on the mor- 
row : and they were now employed in receiving on board a 
fresh stock of powder, when Percy was asked to*form one of 
the party. 

Glad to have some other object to divert his thoughts, if 
only for a few hours, he consented, and we all set off. One 
of our mid s, with that characteristic instinct which all “ young 
gentlemen ” (I allude solely to the navy) possess, espied, at 
an open lattice, what he termed “a devilish pretty face.” In 
an instant the whole party, who were examining a trench, 
faced about, except Percy,* who did not appear to have heard 
this tocsin. “ Ah ! she’s gone,” continued he who first 
observed her, — and the party moved on. But a pretty wo- 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


417 

man, I find, is not to be easily forgotten, more especially in 
Greece, where they are so rare ; and in returning we halted, 
seemingly by mutual consent, near the aforesaid window, to 
see if another glance was not to be obtained. Much to our 
astonishment, we perceived a billet flung out from it towards 
the spot where we were standing. A general scramble en- 
sued, which nearly demolished the prize, — while a young 
lieutenant, who gained it, was considerably disappointed as 
his eye traced the superscription — 

“ Why, Di inkhardson, this is for you. What a cunning 
dog you must be, to stand there as unconcerned as if you 
knew nothing of the matter.” 

“ Eh ! what ? — for me ! surely you mistake,” answered 
Percy, starting from a half- finished reverie. 

“Is it a mistake ? — I wish it were ; but see !” and the 
lieutenant handed the note over to its right owner. 

“ Where, in the name of heaven did this come from ?” 
Percy exclaimed, in a tone of earnestness that made his 
hearers start. 

“ Ah ! how very quickly your apathy flies off,” returned 
the lieutenant. “It came from that window, which I should 
think you know.” To this the other made no reply, but 
eagerly read the contents which were as follows : — 

“ Dearest Percy — I am a prisoner in my father’s house, 
by whose command, it appears, I was torn from you. Do 
not linger under my window, it will only draw down suspicion. 
I rely on your wit to plan my escape ; and you may safely 
confide in the eternal attachment of your Cleanthe.” 

Folding the note up, Percy hastily walked away, and com- 
menced talking on an indifferent subject. 

Seeing some loaded mortars on the ramparts, and many 
of us never having seen a bomb fired, we were anxious to 
seize this opportunity of gratifying our curiosity, for which 
purpose we accosted the creature who appeared to be officer 
of the guard, and who introduced us to Prince Canduretti. 
After some little consultation we agreed, as the sight would 
be more beautiful by night, and as they we re rather short of 
materiel , to return on the third evening from that day, 
which would be Thursday, when we were to be gratified. 

Here was an opportunity for Percy, than which none could 
be better, as the invitation of course included him. Princa 

2 E 


418 cavendish; or, 

Canduretti never having seen Percy, concluded from be- 
holdinghim in a naval undress jacket, that hebelonged to some 
ship of the squadron. Had he known him as the author of 
his child’s dishonour, a musket-shot would, in all probability, 
have terminated both life and love together. Fortunately, he 
knew nothing of the matter, and Percy reached his ship in 
safety, to devise some stratagem for carrying off, once more, 
this modern Helen. 

After being closeted with Lambrino, his Greek interpre- 
ter, for half an hour, that crafty personage was sent on shore 
to inform Cleanthe that she must hold herself in readiness to 
leave the chamber in which she had been seen, by the window, 
at eight o’clock on Thursday evening, when every means of 
escape would be provided. 

Now Lambrino had both gold and wit — how, therefore, was 
it possible that he should fail ? — On the evening appointed, 
Percy went to the fort, accompanied by a dozen of his men 
armed, and dressed in the Greek costume, who, mingling m 
the assembled throng, were unnoticed. Percy waited until 
the first shell had been fired, and then threw a pebble against 
Cleanthe’s lattice — it was opened by herself. To fling up 
the ladder, and hook it to the low window-frame, was but 
the work of an instant. With a firm step she hurried down 
— and Percy, flinging a large Grecian capote around her, 
they speedily quitted the Palimede, — while the sentinels, 
with their accustomed discipline, had all deserted theirposts, 
to witness their superiors’ amusements. Four of the seamen 
preceded, and the remaining eight anxiously followed this 
pretty pair — and on they sped, while every noise above them 
conjured up to theiir imagination the discovery of their flight, 
and the possibility of a rescue. 

Still they had a considerable space to travel, when a 
continued shouting, and the glare of flambeaux in all direc- 
tions of the citadel, announced that their escape was no longer 
a secret. “ Now, my men, now or never — ten pounds for 
each of you if we succeed,” cried Percy, encouraging his 
sailors ; and taking up the light form of Cleanthe in his 
arms, they proceeded to scamper along as fast as their powers 
permitted. Too plainly were heard the sounds of feet on 
the rocks above ; still they paused not, but pursued their 
way with all haste, until voices close at hand warned them 
of immediate capture. 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


419 


“ Thompson,” cried Percy to his quarter-master, “ take 
one of your seven men, and place him in the centre of the 
rest, muffled up in this shawl,” snatching from Clean the’s 
neck one, whose light colour bespoke it to be the garb of a 
female ; “ pretend it is this lady you are bringing along — 
attract their attention — and gain the furthest boat lying 
at yonder point. The moment after you embark, start 
down the gulf; never fear, I will manage to pick you 
up. I shall have a light at each mast-head — off you go !” 

“ Ay, ay, sir,” replied the seaman, flinging Cleanthe’s 
shawl round the head of some rough-bearded shipmate, who 
minced away as if he had been made of the most tender 
materials, highly delighted at having to play the woman. 

Scarcely had they started, and Percy succeeded in screen- 
ing his party behind a rock, when down rushed the enraged 
Greeks, their yataghans drawn, and Canduretti at their 
head, shouting in Arnaout, “ Yonder they fly ! speed my 
men ! cut them all in pieces ! save the daughter of your 
chief! and use no pistols !” Percy waited till the Greeks 
were passed, while Cleanthe, trembling, clung around him ; 
then silently and swiftly leaving his retreat, he succeeded in 
gaining the boat without observation. With heart and nerve 
his men gave way, until they reached the Calliope's side, 
and having given the countersign, Cleanthe once more 
found herself secure, in the protection of her lover, from a 
father’s vengeance. 

The ship had been put under weigh before they reached 
her; they now hoisted the lights, prepared for quarters, 
and somewhat tardily stood down the gulf, to allow their 
second boat to reach them. Anxiously they listened — not 
long in vain. “ Calliope ahoy !” was soon heard astern, 
in Thompson’s voice. Having shortened sail, they received 
their shipmates on board, and hoisting up the boat, once 
more proceeded. 

Four of the men had been wounded, while the shawl- 
bearer still retained his mantle at the expense of his face, 
the beauty of which was considerably diminished by a 
hideous sabre cut, the enemy having discovered the de- 
ception, which nevertheless had answered every end. 
However, ten pounds smart money was so much more than 
they would have obtained in H. M.’s service, and the grog- 
2 e 2 


420 


CAVENDISH ; OR, 


can soon obliterated all unpleasant remembrances. Fortu- 
nately the Calliope had been well stored with provisions the 
week before, and orders were now given to shape the course 
direct for Malta. 

During the time that Cleanthe had been detained by her 
father, Percy had enjoyed full leisure to reflect on the connec- 
tion existing between them. It was impossible not to notice 
the humid eye and quivering lip, at moments when she deem- 
ed herself unseen — passing away, it is true, at the tone of 
Percy’s voice, but still bespeaking some inward care. If 
questioned as to the cause, the utmost that ever escaped, 
was a fear lest his love might diminish. None could fail to 
observe how she shrunk from the gaze of a stranger, while 
all her feelings testified a sense of self-abasement. 

Thus situated, Percy knew that he could never enter into 
society, at least with her; and, added to the reluctance 
w T hich he felt at allowing so beauteous a flower to bloom 
unseen, he was visited with compunction at the grief of a 
heart that had sacrificed every thing for him. Much of 
that feeling which it is the doom of libertines to possess — 
the sense of insecurity in a wife’s discretion — had worn 
away ; a recurrence of the scenes which occasioned it had 
ceased — the folly of youth was also in a great measure sub- 
dued; and these various causes acting together, induced 
him to make all the reparation in his power to her, on 
whom his love had entailed so much misery and bitterness. 

“ Cleanthe, my little love ! I am sure you are unhappy,” 
was his exclamation, as abruptly entering her cabin, he one 
day found her in tears. 

“ How can that be, dearest Percy, when you are near 
me ?” 

“ I cannot tell you how it is ; but the fact is plain. 
Come, confess ; what can I do to increase your enjoy- 
ment ?” 

‘'Nothing, Percy/' 

“ Art sure of that ?” 

“ Quite.” 

“ What say you to becoming my wife ?” 

Cleanthe started ; the blood flew to her fair cheek, and 
flinging her taper arms round his neck, she looked artlessly 
into his face : “ Is it really so ?” 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


421 


“ Positively, love.” 

" Then I need wish for nothing more on earth save life 
and thee.” 

On arriving at Malta, a bilious, liver-coloured, jaundiced- 
looking rascal, named Quarantine, stared them in the face ; 
and knowing that no cockney is half so good a pickpocket, 
they became frightened at his aspect, and merely delaying 
a sufficient time to take in provisions, they once more set 
sail for that isle of loveliness and freedom, chalky Albion — 

Where the women are fair as the snow of their clime, 

Where the sages make love, and the monkeys make rhyme, 

Where the newspapers find a Crim. Con. for each day, 

And beauties steal hearts every night at the play. 

While bricklayer methodists gabble and squeak, 

On the sins thus committed six times in the week : 

Where each rascal ’scaped hanging for murder or arson, 

Is sure to succeed as a methodist parson ; 

’Tis the clime of John Bull, where the taxes oppress us, 

And Boroughbridge knights would refuse to redress us, — 

’Tis the land where old make an uproar, 

And squeak when they’re beat, as each dog and each pup roar. 

’Tis the land which made Arthur a soldierly Duke, — 

Can he smile in the face of the nation’s rebuke ? 

Or still teach the paupers who gave him his wealth, 

That Union starvation is good for their health ? 

Or forgetting his share in poor Badajos’ plunder, 

On Birmingham riots pour out all his thunder ? 

O brave pottle-statesman who ruined thy party, 

By post-prandial speaking a little too hearty ; 

Forget all thy blunders, sage light of the halbert, 

And take thy revenge on the Q and Prince . 

On their arrival in England they were not married in 
St. George’s Church, Hanover Square, but at their hotel, 
the name of which I would give you had I not forgotten it. 

I shall only say now, that marriage was far from diminishing 
their happiness ; and when I last had the pleasure of an 
interview, they informed me of their intention shortly to 
revisit the Morea, for the purpose of effecting a complete 
reconciliation with the prince, who being now arrived at 
more considerable power, would of course make it over to 
his son-in-law ; while the latter, by the determination of 
Prince Leopold not to be Greeked by the Tories, had a very 
fair opportunity of becoming the sovereign of the sunny isles 
that crown the iEgean deep. 


422 


CAVENDISH ; OR, 

“ Should you,” said I, with a face of grave diplomatic 
stupidity, that Aberdeen could barely have surpassed, 
" f realize this hypothesis/ you will indubitably immerge 
the unkingly portion of your nomenclature in the profound 
depths of the Mediterranean sea ; when, by a slight altera- 
tion, Perseus of Greece would be a sufficiently royal and 
euphonical designation for his Hellenic Majesty. 


CHAPTER XLIX. 

Now fore and aft having abused them, 

And all for my fancy and jig ; 

Could I find any one that ill-used them, 

D me, but I’d tickle his wig. 

Jack never was known as a railer, 

’Twas fun every word that he spoke. 

And the sign of a true-hearted sailor 

Is to take and to give a good joke. — D ibdin. 

And I have loved thee, ocean, * * 

■****, 

For I was, as it were, a child of thee. 

Childe Harold. 

How many turns has life ! one immense labyrinth, through 
one of the paths of which I must beg the reader to come 
back with me. 

After taking my leave of Letitia, I re-embarked for 
Portsmouth, and having landed at the Point, was proceeding 
to my hotel, when my arm was grasped by some stranger. 
It was a female : pretence and faded finery were in her garb, 
while sorrow, and the haggard lingering remains of beauty 
sat upon her cheek. At the moment of her accosting me, 
I had been pacing along, torn by every species of blue- 
devilism. No one could be, or should be, or had any right 
to be, half so miserable as myself. I had no sooner cast my 
eyes upon the poor Cyprian, than my discontent instantly 
vanished. Thank heaven ! this is a state into which I can 
never fall. “ Stranger, 1 am almost starving !” was uttered 
in a low, soft voice that thrilled through me, while the snowy 
hand upon my arm might well, indeed, have shaken the 
saintship of an anchorite. I gave her a sovereign, and 
was about to move on, when the glare of a lamp fell on my 
face. The stranger uttered a shriek, and started ; then 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 423 

passionately clasping my hand, exclaimed, “Cavendish, can 
it be you ?” 

Judge of my horror and surprise, when in this erring child 
of squalid poverty, I recognised Mrs. , of Malta. 

Captain had turned out a most passionate, heartless 

creature, and after innumerable squabbles, he refused to 
marry, and then finally deserted her. She had been here 
three weeks, and was now utterly destitute ; her only desire 
was to reach her friends, who lived on an estate in the neigh- 
bourhood. I had very little money in my pocket ; but step- 
ping into the nearest shop, I wrote a draft for fifty pounds on 
the back of a letter, and giving her that and a couple of pounds 
more, to support her until it could be sent up to town for ac- 
ceptance, I took my leave, though not without some desire to 
ask her to sup with me ; but the recollection of all her fond- 
ness and attention by my sick-bed came back, and excited, 
despite of me, those kindly feelings in my heart, which made 
me loth to trust myself. 

No sooner did I awake the next morning than, drawing 
aside the curtain, I took D’Aquilar’s packet from under my 
pillow, and broke it open. The contents were Letitia’s mi- 
niature, and the letter from himself. Having worshipped the 
former, more amantium, (after the manner of lovers, ladies,) 

I proceeded to read the letter, and if you, reader .would like 
to look over my shoulder, behold it here. 

“Dearest Manvers, 

“ Destiny has poured out the contents of her last phial, 
and, though I know not how to believe it, they make up the 

sum of self-destruction here and hereafter peace, I hope. 

At any rate, it is to immortality that I must bow — but to my 
fellow-clods of clay — never. 

“ Long before you read this, my doom, of good or evil, will 
be fixed. Then why dwell on it any longer ? In life you have 
known me your friend : nor in death will you find me less. 

“ Strangely, indeed, has our lot been mingled. As me- 
mory retraces the past, regret suggests, had not this step 
been taken, or that chance occurred, how different would 
have been the result ! ‘ Curious fool, be still.’ Man, through- 
out his whole existence, cannot find one action, however 
trifling, that does not, or might not, sway his most momen- 
tous era. Thus, had I been looking on the opposite side of 


424 


CAVENDISH ; OK, 

the street when Captain Humbug passed, I might not have 
gone to South America, nor become a homicide — a suicide. 
So, with the greatest of us, some thought or look — some 
moment lost or gained, might change the current of our lives 
— if life were one blind hazard : but it cannot be : man is 
by nature impelled to his utmost ; but whither that may tend 
it is not given him to know. 

“ My actions have always been what I considered right. 
Behold, where am I ? You have not done more, and yet 

. But I did not intend to have said any thing further 

about myself. I wish to mention one equally dear to us 
both — Letitia. 

“ I have been greatly consoled to think that the genero- 
sity of your sacrifice for me will in some measure be repaid. 
Little did I imagine, when asking your assistance in secur- 
ing Letitia’s hand, that I bound you down to forego your 
own happiness. I can only rejoice that this was not fated to 
take effect. 

“ You will recollect, that in my letters to yourself, I 
spoke of Letitia’ s love as kind, but sisterly and cold. 
Grieved as you may believe I was, it soon occurred to me 
that her affections were either set on another, or that she 
viewed her future husband merely as a friend. 

“ Tormented by this idea, I had recourse to a lady, a mu- 
tual confidante, whom I urged to obtain the truth, and lay 
the proofs before me. With this agreement I set sail for 
South America. Very little time elapsed before I received 
ample evidence in Letitia’ s hand-writing, that her heart had 
ever been more inclined to another than towards myself ; but 
that a sense of duty to her mother, and the fact of her affec- 
tions never having been sought by him to whom they had 
wandered, induced her to fulfil an engagement she had not 
entered into herself. These letters, which our friend ex- 
torted from Letitia, I now enclose ; and from them you wdl 
gather, not only that her love is bestowed upon another, but 
that the possessor of such a treasure is yourself. 

“ Being convinced of this, I naturally recalled to my mind 
in what manner you had always expressed yourself towards 
her ; when, one by one, some word, or look, or deed, came 
to remembrance, assuring me that by you her affection was 
not unreturned. Then what right have I to stand between 
them ? was my natural self inquiry. None ! — and I had de« 


the patrician at sea. 


425 

termined on writing and placing these things before you, 
when I was lent to the Vindictive and — and — but no matter 
— the sequel you already know. 

“ I will not say that it was alone the desire to forward 
your happiness which prevented me from saving myself, for 
that were untrue to nature, and false in fact ; but it was the 
consideration of how blank would be the desert of life, when 
deprived of her with whom my every thought was so associ- 
ated ; — how many years of suffering were in store, ere I 
could teach my soul forgetfulness, that determined me at 
once to close the scene. Its deepest pangs are past — my 
last breath is for your twin happiness — and let your thoughts 
of me be as for one at rest. Grief is a feeling barren of 
any good ; and as you loved me, never let a shadow’ of it 
be flung upon the memory of your ill-starred but devoted 
friend, “ Ernest D’Aquilar. 

“ Inclosed with Letitia’s letters you w T ill see her minia- 
ture ; — the most valuable gift in my possession. Accept it 
from me.” 

Accompanying this sad eclair cissemsnt, were the epistles 
alluded to, which gave my modest retiring self to understand 
what, of course , I had never glanced at, namely, that Letitia 
Carleton was, &c. &c. As, however, my beloved reader, I 
have not the vanity to suppose that they will either interest 
or amuse thee, I have omitted the same ; and as I laid them 
down after a perusal, I acquiesced in the truth of the remark, 
that there is no fiction so romantic, and few more sad, than 
life. 

But little more is now left, with which your autobio- 
grapher has to deal. D’Aquilar was beyond the reach of 
mortal punishment ; and the body having been submitted to a 
coroner’s inquest, they pronounced, that “ anguish of mind 
had produced insanity in the deceased, during which he termi- 
nated his existence.” It then became my care to consign 
his remains to their parent mould, while a few figures on his 
marble slab proclaim, that he died in youth, and in the fullest 
promise of maturer years. 

The remainder of the evidence being hushed up as soon 
as possible, the ship was paid off, and put into ordinary ; 
while three of the officers retired on half-pay for life, and 
were ordered never to apply again for employment. 


426 CAVENDISH ; OR, 

Captain Humbug’s ship, the Welladay, was soon paid off 
also, and he retired on full consequence and half-pay, to end 
his days in obscurity and the West of England — laughed at 
by his friends, henpecked by his wife, and esteemed for his 
warmth of heart by me. Having bought a house and plea- 
sure-grounds, and sunk a large washing-tray before his 
windows, to swim a punt; cut down a splendid yew-tree, 
near the same, to plant a trumpery flag-post, which he sur- 
rounded with some government swivels ; — I say, having 
committed all these enormities, and many more, the old 
fellow set sail for that further world — which Columbus did 
not discover, — rather suddenly one morning, having — it is 
gently whispered — been somewhat too severely cuffed by 
the esthimable Mrs. Humbug. So said rumour ; but I 
could ne’er believe the tale, because she gave him a splendid 
monument, and put over him a tombstone so heavy, that 
the poor old admiral has never been able to get under 
weigh since. 

D’Aquilar’s faithful friend, the sentimental boatswain, 
was, at my solicitation, appointed to a first-rate, building at 
Plymouth. The name of the assistant- surgeon of the 
Victory I afterwards observed in the papers, as having re- 
tired from the service and purchased a large practice in the 
West End. To him D’Aquilar had left all his unentailed 
property. Methinks you found a handsome market “ good 
apothecary.” “ To mvself, I said — And if a man did 
need — ” 

With regard to my most respectable father, he flourished 
like a “green cedar ”■ — though Portman-square is not the 
place where they grow to perfection — and continued daily 
to anticipate the death of his elder and childless brother, 

the Marquis of , and nightly to give his vote and 

speeches in the House of Corruption. I need not say, that 
the speeches breathed the purest spirit of patriotism — and 
sinecures ; nor that, when horrible members opposite spoke 
of Reform, he wished it also ; but this was not the moment ; 
— besides many other assertions, bounteous in all save 
truth, and many internal and firm convictions, that if 
reform did take place at this moment — he would lose all his 
rotten boroughs. What were his arguments in conjunction 
with those who held the same opinions, I will not tell you 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


427 

—because — I never heard they had any. They spoke of a 

revolution (in their interest;, and a subversion of 

(bribery); had an over-abundant quotation of common sense 
and common place, but of common justice ? — ahem ! While 
their hearers, with truth, accused them of dealing in the 
commons. 

Happening one morning at breakfast to inquire of my 
father where he had dined on the preceding evening, he re- 
plied, “ At Prince Leopold’s/’ 

“ Did you hear anything new ?” 

“ Yes : by the merest accident I did ! not only was it 
new, but I think rather monstrous — tell sadly against my 
party, if it were known. I hardly think it safe to commu- 
nicate the circumstance to you : you are such a confounded- 
ly hot young Whig. You really should, Manvers, take your 
father’s politics.” 

“ Oh doubtless, sir ! perhaps you’d wish me to wear your 
old clothes ? But let me have this story.” 

“ Well, then, be discreet in mentioning it. At the din- 
ner table I happened to get next my old friend. Count , 

and in the course of the evening we chanced to be talking 
in one of the window recesses, in German, when the Duke 

of W n and Sir Edward Codrington passed near us, in 

earnest conversation. Of course I did not move, and was 
taken for a second foreigner, who did not understand 
English. ‘ Sir Edward Codrington,’ said the duke, ‘ I am 
happy to inform you that I am making arrangements to give 
you a pension of eight hundred a-year for your services/ 

‘ Indeed, your grace ! then I cannot accept it.’ ‘Oh ! but 
indeed you must ; it comes from the King, and is the most 
handsome thing possible!’ ‘I cannot see, my lord duke, 
how the king can in this manner reward my services, after 
what has passed. I hope there is not a more loyal subject 
in his Majesty’s dominions than myself ; but I must, in this 
instance, consult my own feelings. You will recoDect, vou 
have as yet given me no answer to the memorial which I 
sent in, requesting that the men might be remunerated for 
the clothes which they lost by the shot in the battle of Na- 
varin ; neither have you taken any steps towards giving us 
a grant for the action : and can your grace imagine that I 
will receive a pension, when xny men are thus allowed to go 


428 CAVENDISH ; OR, 

unrewarded, and the action has been so much misrepre- 
sented ? Your grace has commanded an army, and I have 
commanded a fleet — a combined fleet ; and your grace is 
very well aware how much the men look up to a com- 
mander-in-chief for protection, and the remembrance of 
their claims. No : if his Majesty wished to reward me for 
the action, let my officers and men, who shared in my dan- 
ger, share my reward ! ' 

“ ‘ You mistake, Sir Edward/ replied the duke ; ‘ the 
merit of the battle has never been denied : besides, the 
treaty at Alexandria is sufficient to establish your reputation. 
But, with regard to a parliamentary grant, the law is against 
you/ 

“ ‘ Yes, your grace, I know it is, if you choose to make it 
so ; but we have as much right to it as Lord Exmouth : the 
circumstances are the same/ 

“ * No ; in that case war was declared/ 

“ ‘ I know it. Lord Exmouth was instructed, if he could 
not obtain what he demanded, he was to declare war by 
firing on Algiers. He did so. But in my case the Turks 
first fired upon us, thus virtually declaring war ; and because 
we were the defendants, instead of assailants, we are to lose 
our grant ! ' 

“ * Will you not accept the pension, then ? ' inquired the 
duke, rather chagrined. 

“ 4 Most decidedly not, my lord duke / when they bowed 
and separated/' 

“ Good heavens ! My dear sir, do you actually mean to 
say that the whole of this took place ? I can hardly believe 
such a thing/' 

“ That may be very likely. I will not swear to every syl- 
lable, nor perhaps to every phrase ; but of this I am most 
positive ; I have given you nothing more than the sense 
of their conversation, and nearly all the wording of it."* 

“ Well, it indeed seems monstrous that a ministry could 

be found silly enough to attempt patching up their v 

by such corruption." 

A year having passed since the death of D'Aquilar, I 
could delay no longer, — but proposed, was accepted, and 
married. Having given Letitia her choice of whither we 
* A fact M 


THE PATRICIAN AT SEA. 


429 

should bend our wandering steps, she selected Constanti- 
nople, from which lovely spot we have returned, without 
helping to pull down a king, or joining in any mischief 
whatsoever — and considering that I once was a midshipman , 
this is saying a great deal. 

As I am free to admit that mine is one of those souls 
which require all the " good ” that either “ confession ” or 
any thing else can do them, I suppose I cannot do less than 
plead guilty to being one— 

Whom every path in pleasure’s flow’ry way, 

By turns have lured, and all have led astray. 

One good at least survives to me at the end of my career — 
the melancholy conviction that had I to repass the short 
term of my existence now flown, how much I could im- 
prove it ! Errors seen however are already half corrected ; 
so that should I ever be tempted to lift again the veil from 
private life, I trust there may be found less to censure, and 
more perchance to praise. 


NOTES 

ON NAVAL REFORM. 


Before the reader enters upon the consideration of the important 
subject, touching which these notes are written, I beg leave to remark 
that they are intended to be read consecutively, and for this reason 
have been thus detached from the rest of the work, instead of being 
scattered through its pages. I am very well aware that a novel is not 
the right description of work in which to lay so serious a matter before 
the public ; but I reserve to myself the power of fulfilling my present 
intentions, and following up the subject more fully upon another occa- 
sion and in a more suitable form. The idea of making the officers all 
mess together belongs to his late Majesty, William the Fourth ; who, 
I believe, had some intention of introducing so beneficial a change , 
amongst his many others, while Lord High Admiral. For the remain- 
der of my plan I am indebted to no one, and it has therefore no further 
claim upon public attention than that which its merits may afford. 

Note L 

If I were desired to point out the root of all evil in the navy, the se- 
cret spring of that tyrannical sway, which has in all societies cast such 
a stigma on our nautical defenders, I should pronounce it most indubi- 
tably to be the result of sending such striplings to sea — mere children. 

It is a received axiom, that nothing lowers humanity so deeply as 
ignorance ; and that God’s image only sinks into the mire of slavery, 
when the light of knowledge leaves the mind enthralled. It is also an 
admitted point, that the proper age to commence a naval life is thirteen l 
This is the extreme verge of propriety with the old school. 

Now parents, let me ask you, what do your children generally know 
at thirteen ? Some Latin, a little Greek — two things forgotten ere the 
age arrives to use them. Do they know sufficient of the world and its 
planners to avoid a bad example ? Not a whit ; indeed it is not to be 
wished, if it were to be expected. They are of that age, when, sud- 
denly freed from the restraint of school, they long to start into manhood 
at once ; and whatever they see or hear in others older than themselves, 
that do they instantly imitate. Thus their education, as relates to the 
practical part of it, and their bent and disposition in after life, is neces- 
sarily formed and moulded on board a ship. What, let us inquire, is 
the picture from which they have to copy in a midshipman’s berth ? In 
nine cases out of ten — or more — licentiousness and profanity in every 
shape. No one refinement is indigenous. Here then he learns t(f> 
swear and drink. He next goes on deck, and meets a first-lieutenant 
of the old school, treating men like hogs, and officers like felons : using 
language, which many a poor creature whom necessity has driven to 
live ay prostitution, would hold in scorn. He is kept in one continued 


431 

forced and false dread of punishment * he’sebs all around Him tending 
beneath the yoke, not daring even to think ; he is- judged by. a court 
which acknowledges no appeal; and finding that. he hai no alternative 
but to submit or leave the ship, (let his nature be ever* so v can&id or up- 
right,) he becomes a mean, cringing thing, afraid to assert thkt the Al- 
mighty made him in his own likeness — -free. This natdraliy makes 
him a bully; he sees the same system pursued on all sides; it becomes 
a second nature to him. The passion for power is among the earliest 
and worst feelings in the human breast : and here it is nourished and 
cherished to the utmost, when little animals of this tender age are placed 
to command men, who might have been their great-grandfathers. Now 
is it likely, that a lad, in whom human nature (worse than running wild) 
is thus tortured into despotism and viciousness, will prove a cool, dispas- 
sionate officer, one who is the supreme court of judicature to arrange 
the numerous faults and differences arising among from fifty to a thou- 
sand men ? Decidedly not. Years must pass before he is any thing else 
than a hot, intemperate, prejudiced man ! Thus, then, we will say, the 
first three years of a midshipman’s life generally pass in skulking his 
watch, and shirking his duty ; and were you to examine ten youngsters 
at this period, they would be almost wholly ignorant of how to go through 
the necessary directions, in reefing or shifting a topsail, or mooring a 
ship, or, in fact, of any of these primary and important duties of a sailor ; 
and out of that ten, four at least would be unable to put a vessel about, 
and to weigh an anchor, and cast the ship’s head. — Then what can they 
do 1 They can drink half a pint of rum, and can carry on “ a blackguard- 
ing match” with any of the mess ; they can cut out to perfection, wea- 
ther the lieutenant of the watch in a dark night, break their leave, 
and then spin the first-lieutenant a yarn as tough as most folks. But 
as to their use in any case of emergency, they are no more fit to be en- 
trusted with the lives of the men under their command, than a quaker 
would be ; nor so much, for he at any rate would have maturity and 
steadiness, and a wish to be advised — three things in which such young- 
sters would be totally wanting. Here, then, are three years lost — 
worse than lost — because they have produced ineffaceable impressions, 
and those of a totally wrong tendency. Notwithstanding all this, they 
are kept so much on board, that they no sooner land, than they are 
riotous beyond description ; bringing disgrace upon themselves, and the 
profession into much bad odour. 

Not among the least of these evils, is that of their society on shore 
being chiefly among females of a certain class ; for, on entering into 
any other, midshipmen naturally find themselves at a loss from their 
long exclusion ; hence their resorting to the former, where punctilio is 
thrown aside ; and thus, instead of enjoying the advantages which other 
men possess, that of woman’s influence and gentleness, to act as a cor- 
rective, he only sees her in a light, lowered, degraded, false — and there- 
fore spurned. Now, female weight and power is, and ever will be, far 
too great behind the scenes of life, not to make this a more serious con- 
sideration than it at first appears. 

Thus, almost every thing militates against the education, as it now is, 
of the naval officer ; and, seeing the numberless difficulties which he 


432 

has t£> encounter, it is -mos*/ surprising to find him even what he is. I 
wouiS, however*' have- civilians to jrecollect, that they can be but partial 
judgesBlt is n^e especially on board that the dark side of the cha- 
racter rtf; naval officers is seeri.^md there, alas ! it too often presents it- 
self. Iihayen knowp jtha't I am far from blaming them ; it is the system, 
not the mgn, that T condemn ; the follies that I have enumerated are 
as mucii t®w? imputed to myself, as to them ; the same ordeal avtaits 
us all. Too well I know, that in five cases out of six, the crimes of 
mankind are fostered between natural impulse and adventitious circum- 
stances, and I gladly record my feeling here, that I regard the charac- 
ter of naval officers, as one that might be noble, generous, and exalted 
in the extreme, but now most cruelly warped and perverted by the 
uncorrected errors of their constitution, framed and intended for a dif- 
ferent stage of society ; and I entreat them to reflect, that before a 
remedy can be supplied, it is necessary to point out the evils which 
exist, in strong and fearless language, that cannot be misunderstood. 
This I conceive the good of my country demands, and this I will do. 
This note is already long ; I shall only state here, that I consider sixteen 
sufficiently young as the entrance age, for all that is required from an 
officer in His Majesty’s navy. The reasons for adopting such a con- 
sideration, and the course to be then pursued, are laid down in the 
following note. The only sensible objection that I have ever heard raised 
to this alteration is, the fear that at that age the mind would be unable to 
bend itself with the same enthusiastic ardour as at more tender years. 
The proof against this lies in the fact, that many of our best officers 
were pressed before the mast, taken from some trade, after having ar- 
rived at the years of maturity. And, indeed, the whole series of impress- 
ments militate against such reasoning. A far more silly argument is, 
that at sixteen, young men begin to have a will of their own J What 
abhorrent tyranny lies couched within this sentence ! Of what use is a 
creature who has no will of his own ? In case of an emergency he is 
lost, bewildered. Are we told that the discipline of the army is des- 
troyed, because ensigns are not drilled at thirteen ? Away with such 
trash ! — That man is unfit to command his fellow-creatures who cannot 
devise some moral restraint to meet so trivial an evil. 

Note II. 

We now come to consider the merits of the plan proposed above. 

If, as is the case, boys at sea invariably turn to a bad account their 
first three years, how much more advantageous it would be not to ad- 
mit them till they had arrived at an age when the mind is sufficiently 
formed to comprehend what it has to learn ; and how much better would 
it be, that they should be kept at school, beyond temptation, and educa- 
ted expressly for the profession that is to support them ; instead of bur- 
dening government w r ith the expense of naval schoolmasters and the 
officers with the continued trouble of dealing with little urchins, they 
know not how to manage carefully, (being too impatient,) and who, in 
return, cannot understand the wishes of their superiors ! 

Every one knows how prevalent, to this very day, is the disgraceful 
system of flogging young midshipmen, in open defiance of the laws and 
regulations of the Admiralty ! It is a course that nothing should tempt 



NOTES. 


433 

one to pursue. If a boy absolutely deserves such a punishment, let him 
leave a service that he will only disgrace. If on the other hand, it is 
unnecessary, what can be more cruel ? The most plausible, nay, indeed, 
the only defence that can be urged is, that captains, when so acting, 
regard the youngsters in the light of children — of schoolboys, not officers. 
This argument, though I deem it most untenable, yields a positive deduc- 
tion in my favour. Why send them to sea at an age when they know 
not how to behave themselves ? 

Parents, if you have the least spark of love for your offspring, pause, 
anxiously pause, ere you place them in a situation where the follies inci- 
dental to their tender age are to be visited with a disgrace that may 
wound their spirits a thousand-fold more deeply than it bruises the 
body — that may change the very current of their lives — eat away the core 
of calm content, and conduce to bring them to an early, perhaps an igno- 
minious grave! There are many who advocate this mode of punish- 
ment, doing so conscientiously, from a persuasion of its correctness. 
These I blame not, save for human error, and would gladly seek to con- 
vince ; but if I thought that wretch existed, who would wantonly break 
through the most sacred, honoured feelings of human nature — who would 
raise the reeking goad, the bloody thong, of diabolical tyranny, to glut 
his infernal appetite of fiendish oppression, I would joyfully go any 
length to hurl upon him the full infamy and ignominy that such a satellite 
of Satan deserves. 

This one reason is sufficient, despite the hundred more, to do away 
with such a state of things, for which I would substitute the following : — 

Ir. the first place, the naval school at Portsmouth mignt oe almost 
entirely done away with, or at least the “ foundation ” part of it. It is, 
or was very lately, one sink of abuses ; and that which had been origi- 
nally intended to assist the sons of poor officers with an education, has 
now become an appanage and convenience to those who have no need 
of it. The saying is notorious throughout the service, that boys coming 
from the Royal Naval College at Portsmouth turn out the greatest and 
most predetermined scamps.* Nor is it to be wondered at, when 
we reflect that the same system of servitude and bullying goes on there, 
as that which has ever been a scandal or a disgrace to all the public 
schools of England. But, however, whether this be demolished or not, 
is a distinct question. I propose that the head masters now there, should 
be empowered, at stated seasons — say once a-month — to examine all 
candidates for entering the navy, in navigation , mathematics , French 
and drawing. That the age of such candidate should never exceed six - 
teen, nor be less than six months younger. That no boy who could not 
pass a creditable examination in these branches, should be admitted into 
the service, for any interest , or on any plea whatever. This regulation, 
at the same that it did not prevent the lower ranks of life from placing 
children of promise in the profession, would, by the express education 
it required, stand somewhat as a check, and wholly as a pledge, for the 
respectability and competency of those admitted. 

* This word is used in its moderate sense, meaning nothing more 
than a mischievous monkey, delighting in idleness, and hot water — 
something like himself — in times past, of course. 

2 F 


NOTES. 


434 

Having accomplished this, some of the iine-of-battle guardships 
should be fitted up at three dock-yards, as floating naval-colleges, re- 
ceiving on board from forty to sixty of these cadets ; where it should be 
the business of the captain, and executive officer, to teach them the 
various duties of their profession, so many hours on certain days — knot- 
ting, splicing, reefing, furling, bending and unbending sails, &c. Libra- 
ries might soon be formed on board by subscription, in which should be 
found ; first, the books necessary to their profession ; then the histories 
and manners of countries ; and lastly, such works as would tend to emu- 
lation, and a love for the profession in which they are embarked. 

They should be rigidly taught to render to their superiors the respect 
that is their due, and receive the same themselves ; and, by having some 
sort of commission, be put on the same footing of comfort and rank as 
the army ensigns, which, by the bye, is the grade, which government 
has given them, while their pay is just one third ! Certain days should 
be appointed for different sets, (say, if sixty were on board, ten in a 
set,) to go on shore, twice a-week, or thrice a fortnight, as that might 
be, when all their recreations and engagements might be arranged with- 
out detriment to the service ; and from thus giving them an opportunity 
of mingling with society in their own rank ashore, they would no longer 
be driven to mingle with a degraded class, whereby their bearing would 
be softened, and their manners more polished and adapted to the state 
in which the world exists. The deprivation of this pleasure might be 
held out as a punishment, while it would be the care of the captain and 
master to see that they did not retrograde from their attainments, by 
having an examination on board every month, and sending the results 
to the Admiralty, with the names attached, and the reports made on 
them by the captain. Whenever a ship happened to be commissioned, 
she would receive on board so many of these cadets, according to their 
seniority, whereby the captain would lose none of his patronage, since, 
instead of appointing his own mids, he might nominate his friends to 
be examined for the floating college ; and by putting down the name of 
every candidate nine months in advance it would afford sufficient time 
to direct the studies of any young man to this particular end. 

Note III. 

It is unnecessary to say any thing further on the deterioration of 
morals and manners consequent on the entrance of children from school 
into a midshipman’s berth. But this is far from the least injury which 
arises to the service from the age of the debutants. In this officers’ 
mess there are constantly two factions, the oldsters and the youngsters ; — 
the one perpetually bullying and violating the laws of gentlemanly for- 
bearance, the other continually plotting, and having recourse to artifice, 
(as has ever been the wont of the weaker party,) to gain their object. 
This, besides creating innumerable quarrels, makes for each youngster 
some secret foe, who soon finds a channel through which to prejudice 
the ear of his superiors ; and these last punish, because such a boy is 
reported vicious, or rebellious, or lying, by such an oldster ; when a lad 
that, might have been most tractably led, finds himself cruelly oppressed, 
without an opportunity of vindicating himself, and kicking against the 
pricks in reality, is not unoften obliged to leave the ship or the service ; 


NOTES. 


435 

while the oldster himself may be the most determined blackguard, and 
the captain have no knowledge of the fact ; inasmuch, as the strict re- 
serve and etiquette maintained on board a ship is such as to keep all the 
junior officers at an unapproachable distance. This system is just a sin- 
gle degree above the lion’s mouth at Venice, and I only see one certain 
way to demolish it, namely, by making all the officers mess together. 
Among the first benefits of this, would be the constant restraint imposed 
on all improper conversation, by the presence of their superiors, as 
one gun-room (of a greater extent, of course, than the present size) 
would be appropriated to them all ; wkile the younger part could not 
fail to be instructed by what passed among their seniors. More especi- 
ally by not coming on board until the age of sixteen, that disposition to 
childish playfulness would be destroyed, which ultimately grows into 
bearish ferocity. I allude to the constant habit of “ skylarking ; ” that is, 
jumping over the tables, flinging missiles across the berth, and in short, 
making such a noise, that it is utterly impossible to read, or think, or 
do aught beside, save lose your temper. The captain, by constantly 
meeting his officers at dinner, hearing their unrestricted remarks, see- 
ing their general habits of spending their time, and other trifles of this 
sort, would be enabled to judge their characters, unveiled by prejudice ; 
and thus know whom to keep at a distance, whom to punish, and whom 
to lead ; which one would be the best calculated to send on any duty 
of danger, bravery, or importance. His cabin would remain to him as 
usual for the other meals ; and once a-week if it pleased him, he could 
dine alone ; they would have less timidity in approaching him on the 
score of any injustice, while aught like a tyrannical tendency in him 
would meet with an imperceptible and meet restraint. And here I 
might say a few words relative to flogging the seamen. I am quite of 
opinion with the writer of “ The Life of a Sailor ” in a recent periodical, 
that it never can be dispensed with in toto. That the men themselves 
think so, is evident ; for Parker at the Nore flogged more than any cap- 
tain, and, among all their demands, an abolition of this was never hinted at. 
It is impossible, with uneducated men, to take advantage of those nice 
feelings of honour, which may be done' with the young officers, though 
the principle might be more acted upon than it is ; and while it is vitally 
necessary that some scourge should be impending, the restraint on the 
captain, which I before mentioned, would deter him from carrying such 
punishments to the extreme ; and an indirect way to better the condi- 
tion of the men is to elevate that of the officers. Thus the ship would 
be infinitely more comfortable, and ground gained on every side ; since 
the money saved from the abolition of schoolmasters (which class would 
now be unnecessary) might be in part or wholly, given to the officers’ 
table. 

Note IV. 

In all legislative enactments, not only should the more immediate 
features of the law be considered, but the results produced by its action 
on human nature ; for he only legislates by halves, who does not attend 
to this ; inasmuch as the most beautiful theory will not unfrequently 
turn out poor in practice. Hence no regulation ever tended to have a 
more baneful influence on the best interests of the navy than those passed 
by the inimitable John Wilson Croker, and his no less praiseworthy su- 

2 F 2 


436 


NOTES. 


perior, Lord Melville, relative to the second class of masters’ assistants, 
and second class volunteers. They were instituted to meet the demand 
for masters : and what did these highly talented men do ? In order to 
avoid excepting those officers from the merchant service, and raise the 
character of the service , (who generally turned out drunken, incorrigible, 
vulgar men,) they enacted that the sons of warrant-officers, et cetera, 
(which cetera means any riff-raff,) should be allowed to enter the ser- 
vice as gentlemen, messing with the midshipmen, and be gradually 
promoted to the rank of master. What was the consequence ? any 
cobler or tinker, who had a son too idle to acquire his father’s trade, 
was bundled off to sea, certain, if he conducted himself with any decency, 
not below that of a hog, and ability not much inferior to that of a donkey, 
to be in time promoted. The first incongruity is, ordaining the sons 
of the first nobleman in aristocratic England to be placed at the same 
table with the offspring of men ranking some degrees below their fathers’ 
cooks. Taking the difference of education and breeding (which alone 
would produce eternal quarrels) out of the question, we know the natural 
tendency of boys to make this a taunt, which in the first outset destroys 
all sort of unanimity ; secondly we have the disgrace brought upon the 
service by the lowlife behaviour and manners to be expected from such 
people ; and, thirdly, we have the actual result— a complete schism be- 
tween one set and the other, and a resolution among all sensible captains 
to avoid taking them as much as possible. The consequence has been, 
the destruction of the class, to all the intents and purposes for which 
it was formed ; and if by accident or ignorance of its nature, the sons 
of gentlemen chanced to enter it, they immediately became disgusted, 
and renounced its pursuit. It is now virtually suppressed ; but the 
evil has not ended here? the same stigma attaches to the rank of mas- 
ter. It is held as beyond the pale of the other commissions — lieutenants 
and captains ; and though by far the most arduous and responsible duty 
in the ship, it is considered as an inferior and debased grade, and ever 
will be so while it remains as it now is : and why ? Simply for this rea- 
son : the immense wisdom of our forefathers has decreed, that beyond 
the elysium of the sounding’s state there is no progression! Yes, 
reader! start not! though a fighting man, and not therefore a civilian, 
like the surgeon and purser, to him only is the strong stimulus of emu- 
lation denied. Can it be expected from human nature, and it is that 
alone on which all good laws should be based, that the strong fire of am- 
bition shall be lulled for ever in the breasts of young men, because those 
who have the care of the navy do not choose to exert themselves, and 
provide proper remedies for the various exigencies of the service? 
Not at all. Can we expect a young man of talent — which a master 
should be, from his responsible situation — to set himself quietly down 
for life in a state which has scarcely any progression, except getting a 
larger ship — content to be the fag officer of every young lieutenant only 
just entered the service? Never : such a mode of going on is to reverse 
the first order of nature : it is depriving the bosom of God’s greatest 
boon — hope. Discontent, and a dislike for his situation, will be the 
inevitable result, when the profession must become a loser. And is this 
to continue while a remedy exists so near at hand 2 I should hope 
not. 


NOTES. 


437 


Again, much, very much, has been said against the partial and unjust 
promotion of men of family and interest, while merit is unable to gain, 
or wealth to purchase, a commission. I am far from upholding this ; 
at the same time, nothing is more natural ; and until humanity is 
changed it will be impossible to prevent it wholly. But you may op- 
pose a new principle thereto, whereby its bad effects shall be negatived. 
It is easy to trace the gradual steps which realize the proverb of hope 
deferred, in the case of the poor passed mate ; one who has served his 
country well and faithfully, but wanting interest, has been left unpro- 
moted, till, as a solace to his broken spirit, he betakes himself to the 
bottle ; becoming lost to his own interest, and a clog to the service. 
Better would it be to pay such men for leaving it altogether, however 
unjust to their claims so to do, than promote them, inefficient as they 
are, to places of trust and power ; but better still, to take the necessary 
steps for guarding against the neglect and ruin of such people, who have 
strong demands upon their country’s gratitude. Here, then, are three evils 
of some, nay, great magnitude ; nau'sly, the non-advancement of mas- 
ters, the ultra-promotion for interest, and the neglect of those whose 
morn and spring of life has been devoted to the country that does not 
reward their declining days ; leaving them a prey to that canker of the 
soul — disappointment. The whole of these may be remedied by one 
alteration, and a path thus opened for the greater advantage of England, 
and the success of merit ; the last of which, at this moment, has no exis- 
tence in the British navy ! 

Supposing the former plans to have been adopted, namely, the en- 
trance-age changed from thirteen to sixteen ; the six years allowed to 
learn the numerous duties of the profession, instead of being half squan- 
dered, would by the monthly examinations,* and the attention of the 
captains to that point, have been so profitably employed, that, at twen- 
ty-two, men would be considerably better fitted in every way to take 
command than they possibly can be now at nineteen ; while the privation 
of retaining young men as cadets or midshipmen until that age would 
be scarcely felt, if all the officers messed together ; whereas, now you 
meet with mates often thirty and upwards. 

At this age, (twenty-two,) young officers should be qualified — having 
served six years — to undergo two examinations. The usual one for 
lieutenants, to be passed by those who choose to take that step, and 
depend upon their interest for getting on ; the second examination, 
which should be much more complicated and severe, for the duties of 
master, to be passed by men of hard fagging, industry and talent ; who, 
having no interest, would be glad to take that temporary rank, and 
work their way on to a captain’s commission by their merit ; the reader 
bearing in mind, of course, that no man would be compelled to take 
either path in preference to the other ; while such examinations would 
not be above the abilities of any, the primary examination of candidates 
previous to admission, having acted as a percolator to admit none but 
capable people into the service ; when the result would depend upon 
their own perseverance and determination ; which things constitute 

* Some captains, with a praiseworthy zeal for the profession and the 
youngsters’ interests, have adopted this plan, and found it answer. 


438 


NOTES. 


the success of five-sixths of the world, and without which, genius is 
like a dish of snap-dragon, brilliant but evanescent. According, there- 
fore, as young men intended to pass the first, or the second, so would 
they direct their studies. We now have a man in every way fitted to 
be an officer, and whose acquirements would be especially appropriate 
for the commission given to him , on the instant of passing — that of a 
master — though this inappropriate title might be changed with much 
advantage.* I would next place his rank completely on the same 
footing with that of a lieutenant ; and, like him, let his station in the 
ship be according to his seniority ; when, instead of every lieutenant 
throwing the onus of the duty, and the task of staying on board, to the 
lot of the master, he should share the same advantages as they do ; 
and if of no longer standing than the others, he should perform the duty 
now intrusted to the first- lieutenant, to which no master would object, 
(on the contrary,) and the government would thereby be saved the ex- 
pense of a lieutenant in every ship possessing such a master. The con- 
sideration which follows is the grade of their promotion, which, to give 
merit a fair chance, must be certain and fixed, and not dependent upon 
caprice. 

After serving for six years in this capacity, this officer should be 
eligible to become a lieutenant, with the seniority of his time as master ; 
thus arriving within twelve years, and at the age of twenty-eight, with 
the most complete knowledge of his profession, at a rank which in 
these days takes from eighteen to twenty-four years to obtain, and then 
finds its possessor far less informed, and not unfrequently disgusted 
with the service, and fit for nothing. 

Having now rendered their country sufficient benefit to claim their 
advancement with all justice, they should be once more at liberty to 
trust to their interest for employment, or, resuming the situation of 
master, devote their talents to it for six years longer, and then claim 
an immediate promotion to the rank of commander. These would 
form a class of officers in the very zenith of physical power, whose life 
had been constantly employed, and whose various and extensive know- 
ledge would be most incalculably useful ; having in the intermediate 
space passed through the requisite examinations for different rates and 
different stations, to which masters are now subjected. 

An impartial person will at once perceive the advantages which this 
plan offers, and be of my opinion, that a set of men thus brought up, 
must of necessity be the ablest seamen, and best appointed officers in 
the navy. From this it is easy to trace their rise : in time ot war, 
ministers planning any expedition would prefer to intrust it to such 
men rather than to any others, while the unanimous voice of the 
country would demand their employment upon all occasions of emer- 
gency, knowing that their superior acquirements must ensure success 
to our arms, and their own distinction would follow. Hence such an 
ordeal would ultimately be considered as the test of merit and ability ; 
so that men of family and interest, whose attainments were sufficient, 

* Than “Master” any title is more relevant, and if my plan were 
followed up, I see no objection to “ Lieutenant- War den” — the warden 
of a college is a sort of precedent for the title. 


MOTES. 


439 

would in self-defence adopt the same line, to prove that they were as 
clever as other people, and consequently as much entitled to the confi- 
dence of their countrymen. The son of an earl is not of necessity 
it blockhead ; but not being spurred by necessity, he seldom exerts his 
°own powers. By these alterations, this class, now looked down upon, 
and despised on all hands, would be raised, by its merit alone, to the 
head of our nautical school. 

“ What, pray, are we to do with all the old masters thus continually 
made ?” I hear some of the Croaking set exclaim. That has been 
cared for — there should no longer he such a thing as a half-pay master — 
not one. Here would be a saving to the country ! No : those men 
who, after their six years, wished to retire, should accept their lieute- 
nant’s rank, seniority, and allowances, as I said before, and then retire 
on half-pay, if they pleased ; while the regulation of only admitting a 
certain number of cadets into the profession at a time, would prevent 
this list from being over-flooded, and thus our naval establishment 
would be reduced to some precise order and regularity ; and it might 
oe so arranged, that the nicest calculation, at the end of the year, 
would find the lieutenant’s half-pay list not more augmented than if 
these regulations had never been adopted ; but this he would more 
especially find — far more gentlemen in the navy, and less disgraceful 
court-martials ; while its features throughout would be of an infinitely 
more exalted, patriotic, and heroic nature. 

Note V. 

Rightly to accomplish the balance of justice, there must be on the 
respective relations of every state a mutual check. First, from the 
superior on the inferior ; next, from the inferior on the superior. In 
the English navy the former exists in abundance, but the latter is 
virtually quite wanting. You may demand a court-martial: good — 
and most likely have a mark put against your name ; but my Lords of 
the Admiralty may see fit not to grant it. Here is a shameful loop- 
hole for interest, bribery, and what not. 

The political philosopher’s stone, the elixir of life, renewing the 
term of existence ; recalling beauty, bloom, and spring, to the cherished 
land of our birth — Reform, is about to be bestowed upon us, and our 
eternal gratitude is due to the unflinching integrity and sterling talent 
of those who have been the means of granting us that inestimable boon. 
Theirs are names commanding the love of time present, and the sacred 
veneration of future ages. When this shall have taken place, the 
largest bodies of unrepresented men will be the hundreds of thousands 
employed in the military services by sea and land. It is my firm con- 
viction, and will, I am positive, be more generally acknowledged 
hereafter, that the liberty of the subject is not sufficiently protected in 
these institutions ; whereby discipline is a loser , and the general cha- 
racter of these professions considerably lowered. 

I can see no harm that could possibly result from giving the army and 
navy each two members in Parliament, who could most easily be 
ballotted for, and who would form a real and valuable protection to 
both officers and men. For is it not monstrous, that men who could 
abuse the high trust reposed in them in the manner of a former set ? 


NOTES. 


440 

the Admiralty, should be the supreme judges to do justice to those very 
men that they have been maltreating ? Moreover, theirs should be 
the duty to bring forward the numerous improvements which have 
been strangled seriatim by the Scotch gentlemen, in their “ blue ruin ” 
shops, rejected at home, in trder that they might be proffered to and 
accepted by the Americans; or, worse still, the idea followed up, the 
inventor left t® starve, while some villanous hireling in office has got 
both his credit and his bread by another and an honest man’s brains. 

Thus has been treated the mode of making diagonal seams in our 
sails, which I consider to be a most excellent invention, by Admiral 
Brooking, I believe ; who has also published a work, recommending 
that ships should be sheeted with lead instead of copper, whereby a 
saving to government would ensue of some millions ; which plan, has, 
I aip given to understand, been tried by a gentleman on his own 
yachts, and found to answer completely.* 

Much more might be, and shall be adduced, if necessary, on the 
same head ; but nothing can show more plainly the want of some re- 
presentative in Parliament than the speech and conduct of that most 
modest, retiring little gentleman, Sir George Cockburn, who, on being 
asked by Lord Althorpe, why Sir Edward Codrington’s victory off 
Patras, in driving back the Turks, had not appeared in the Gazette, 
instead of remaining in the delightful obscurity of his own dear corner- 
cupboard, the Admiralty office — he, the modest Sir George, replied, 
with his usual knowledge, that he knew nothing about it ; never knew 
any gun* had been fired, or that it was a victory. And why, sir, did 
you dare to be ignorant of the fact ? You, whose duty it was to have 
ail information respecting it ! are you to commit these vagaries in our 
face? No, sir; your brightest feather is in the praise Napoleon gave 
you ; and it is for this that I beg you not to cloud the good qualities 
which you do possess by such conduct. 

If a further proof were wanting, it is in the whole of that very 
detestable, wretched, and culpable affair, Sir Edward Codrington’s 
recall ; on which the country demanded a court-martial. The navy 
looked for the same thing ; and four times, as the reader has seen,f 
did Sir Edward Codrington himself, write for an opinion or inquiry on 
his conduct, — all was evaded or refused. 

At any rate, whether it be expedient to give a member to the two 
military professions or not, — and it is a question too important for dis- 
cussion here, — there certainly should be an enactment, compelling all 
superiors, however high their rank, to grant a court-martial whenever 
demanded. J% f ' 






* This gentleman may also claim with justice that the discovery was 
original with him, he not knowing that Admiral Brooking had pub- 
lished on the subject, and traced the actual use of sheet-lead up to the 
time of Cromwell. 

f This alludes to the appendix intended to have been published in 
this volume, but since suppressed — unavoidably by me. — Author. 

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